Mkhize said medical staff would also be brought into the state system - in particular general practitioners and specialists.
Health workers -- from cleaning crews to doctors, in hospitals and nursing homes -- have been hit hard by the pandemic. AFP/File/Dimitar DILKOFF
Speaking at the Sonstraal state facility in Paarl on Tuesday where extra beds had been installed to prepare for a “surge” in Covid-19 cases, Mkhize added negotiations between the government and private hospital associations would be completed by Tuesday. “The provincial department will then negotiate, hospital-to-hospital, where they need to place patients.”
He added he did not wish this commitment to be complicated by behind-the-scenes negotiations, saying: “The issue of how we fight about the prices is a back office operation issue.”Mkhize said his message to healthcare professionals in the state system was: “So, moving forward, we do not expect that if there’s a gap between the time at which your beds are coming on to stream, and you the private sector has beds, and you think you have more patients – no patients must fall into the cracks.
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