As SA braces for an onslaught of Covid-19 infections, the state is moving to establish 1,644 emergency field hospitals and quarantine sites to shield a health-care system short of critical-care beds and ventilators.
A total of 2,000 beds for quarantine patients are being installed at the Nasrec centre in Johannesburg - which is being retrofitted to accommodate patients - and three acute facilities under construction in the Western Cape.
Public health and infectious disease experts hope field hospitals will help cover the chink in the health-care system's armour - a dire shortage of critical-care beds and ventilators. Primary health-care specialist Prof Mosa Moshabela said field hospitals are pivotal in keeping patients away from hospitals and maintaining the ICU network's frail capacity.
Gauteng premier David Makhura said the province was also putting up new permanent wards in Kopanong, Jubilee, Chris Hani Baragwanath and Dr George Mukhari hospitals to add 800 beds to the system. Some hospitals have been dedicated to treating Covid-19 patients.Western Cape government spokesperson Mark van der Heever said two acute treatment facilities will be constructed in the Cape Town metro and one in a rural area.
She and Moshabela emphasised the importance of slowing the spread of the virus, thereby reducing the number of ICU patients at one time.
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