Friday, 29 March, 2024
HomeWeekly RoundupOnly slight increase in alcohol related admissions to private hospitals

Only slight increase in alcohol related admissions to private hospitals

South Africa has seen an increase in hospital admissions as a result of accidents and crime since the move to lockdown level 1, according to one of the country’s private hospital groups. Netcare's general manager of emergency, trauma, transplant and corporate social investment, Mande Toubkin, said: “While Netcare does not specifically monitor alcohol-related emergencies, we can confirm there has been an increase in accidents and crime related incidents since the country returned to lockdown level 1.”

But, according to a Weekend Argus report, Life Healthcare, Melomed and Mediclinic said alcohol-related admissions have not increased much recently. GM for emergency medicine at Life Healthcare, Charl van Loggerenberg, said: “Since South Africa officially moved to lockdown level 1, there has been no significant increase in alcohol-related emergency unit admissions in most Life Healthcare hospitals across the country.”

Group marketing manager at Melomed Hospital Holdings, Shameema Adams said their emergency centres have treated the wounds of various assault victims. “There were also a few car accidents cases. However, we cannot confirm if this was related to drunk driving. We do know that alcohol has a direct impact on interpersonal violence, however there has generally been no dramatic increase since the ban lift.”

Chief clinical officer of Mediclinic Southern Africa, Gerrit de Villiers said they had a steady but not immediate increase in trauma-related emergency cases and admissions.

[link url="https://www.iol.co.za/weekend-argus/news/no-significant-increase-in-alcohol-related-private-hospital-admissions-since-move-to-level-1-ac261ab2-b5c4-4a1e-b18e-17943f9842af"]Full Weekend Argus report (Open access)[/link]

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