A key concern in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic internationally has been a shortage of medical equipment, particularly ventilators. Elna Schütz asks whether we are sufficiently prepared in South Africa
A key concern in the fight against the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic internationally has been a shortage of medical equipment, particularly ventilators.
Mkhize said “right now they are adequate”, referring to the number of ventilators in the public and private sector. The responses in the private healthcare sector are similarly guarded and focused on increasing capacity ahead of time. Dr Charl van Loggerenberg, the general manager of Emergency Medicine at Life Healthcare, also confirmed that they have had enough capacity in the past and said it has not previously been necessary for their around 1 000 adult Intensive Care Unit beds to all have ventilators.
An expert from the Critical Care Society of South Africa explained that in severe cases of the disease “in some patients, both lungs become inflamed and increasingly stiff” and breathing needs to be mechanically supported. While ventilators are critical in helping severely ill patients, the mortality rate for ventilated patients is unfortunately very high.
Various companies in the country are working on manufacturing foreign designed products here or developing new ones. Before the car manufacturer can start mass production, they must obtain legal clearance to do so, which is currently ongoing. Julsing said that “this would be the first time for us actually doing a full review on a piece of equipment, so I can’t pronounce on the exact timeline but we would expedite as much as we can”.
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