Free State hospitals and healthcare workers are under strain of increased COVID-19 infections and deaths, as well as violent service delivery protests, reports TimesLIVE.
Infectious disease specialist at Mediclinic Bloemfontein, Dr Cloete Jansen van Vuuren, said hospitals in the province were under extreme pressure with the rise in the number of infections. Some patients were turned away due to limited capacity at hospitals in the province, he said.
Van Vuuren said the health sector suffered another blow when violent service delivery protests erupted on Monday. “A huge bulk of the staff couldn’t come to work at both the state and private hospitals.”
Van Vuuren said some patients who had been in hospital for weeks were being sent home with concentrated oxygen.
Protests also disrupted the first day of the phase 2 Covid-19 vaccine rollout for the elderly on Monday. Day one of the rollout saw 264 people vaccinated in the province.