HEALTH workers across South Africa’s two southernmost provinces have been struggling with a surge in coronavirus patients as the country hurtles towards an expected disease peak in July.
“The numbers have been increasing daily — we don’t have enough space” said a casualty nurse at Livingstone Hospital, one of the three COVID-designated facilities in Eastern Cape.
Asking not to be named, she described a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), back-to-back shifts and chaotic management.
“Last time I went on duty I got eight gloves,” she told AFP by phone. “How do I work with eight pairs of gloves for a 12-hour shift?”
Coronavirus is pushing already-ailing hospitals in one of South Africa’s poorest provinces to the brink.
The Eastern Cape has recorded the third-highest number of coronavirus infections in South Africa, accounting for nearly one in seven of more than 80,400 confirmed cases and 1,674 fatalities.
Health officials claim
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