Mat South Covid-19 taskforce sends SOS

Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Gwanda Correspondent
THE Matabeleland South provincial taskforce committee on Covid-19 has appealed to well-wishers to assist by equipping isolation centres in the province to handle critical Covid-19 patients amid an upsurge of positive cases in the country.

The province has identified an isolation centre at each district hospital but there are no intensive care units because of resource constraints.

Speaking during a meeting yesterday, Matabeleland South provincial taskforce committee on Covid-19 chairperson who is also the Provincial Development Coordinator, Ms Sithandile Ncube urged various partners to assist the province.

“We have a challenge as a province as our isolation centres are not equipped and they don’t have the capacity to handle severe cases.

“Given that we house two major borders where we are receiving a number of returnees on a daily basis this becomes a cause for concern. If we receive a severe case or have a major outbreak in the province, we won’t have a place to hospitalise critical patients,” she said.

“As a province we are in need of assistance in capacitating our isolation centres considering the critical task that we have of handling returnees that hail from other provinces.”

Speaking during the same meeting, Matabeleland South Provincial Medical Director, Dr Rudo Chikodzore said isolation centres in the province were able to cater for mild to moderate cases and severe ones are referred to Bulawayo.

She said they were in the process of setting up a high dependence unit at Gwanda Provincial Hospital and appealed to various partners to assist.

Dr Chikodzore said testing of Covid-19 was being hampered by inconsistent supply of commodities.

“We continue to receive PPE through NATPHARM and other stakeholders that we work with at provincial and district level however this remains in short supply because of the high numbers of people being handled at the ports of entry as well as the increased number of Covid-19 positive cases that we are now recording and the responses to community tracing that we are expected to do,” she said.

“Transportation also remains a challenge due to a shortage of ambulances and service vehicles to facilitate contact tracing within communities and following up cases within communities.” — @DubeMatutu