John Muyamba
RUNDU – The Rundu Intermediate Hospital says the Covid-19 situation is much better compared to recent months when the hospital was overwhelmed with admissions. They said admissions had exceeded the hospital’s capacity but in the past days, fewer admissions are being recorded.
As of Monday, they only had four patients admitted due to the deadly virus. To date, Kavango East has recorded about 191 Covid-19 deaths, among them, 70 are home deaths. “However, we shouldn’t let down our guard now, as it is likely that we will experience another wave. Now is the time to mobilise and encourage as many people as possible to get vaccinated. This will greatly reduce the impact when the next wave comes,” said the hospital’s acting medical superintendent, Dr Medson Chibwe.
Chibwe told New Era, for the past two weeks, there has been less than 10 Covid-19 admitted patients and since Saturday only four. Health facilities in the region are busy with vaccinations with the available vaccines, Sinopharm and AstraZeneca. “Since last week, there’s has been a mobile vaccination team at Rundu shopping mall, for those that are unable to get to our health facilities and the team will be there until 30 August.
We have planned to send a mobile team to points where our pensioners are getting paid to offer vaccination services to those willing,” said Lebbeus Musongo from the Kavango East and West regional health directorate. Musongo is the focal person responsible for educating the Kavango community on Covid-19 matters.
The hospital has also lifted the restrictions on public visitations to admitted patients (not Covid-19 patients) which was in force since 2 July. “The suspended visits to patients was done to curb the spread of Covid-19,” Musongo noted.
Although visitation is permitted to non-Covid-19 patients, visitors are still required to adhere to strict Covid-19 regulations and hygiene measures when visiting and the hospital’s security is mandated to evict visitors who defy the wearing of masks and social distancing requirements. The Rundu Intermediate Hospital caters for referrals from the Kavango East, Kavango West and the Zambezi regions. The health facility also serves a huge number of Angolan patients living along the Kavango River.
- jmuyamba@nepc.com.na