City works to boost its health resources to curtail COVID-19 crisis
01 June 2020
The City of Cape Town’s Health Department is on a recruitment drive to fill positions that will further strengthen its response to the COVID-19 crisis.
The national disaster declaration in March has put the department in a position to fast-track the filling of 101 vacancies.
Already today, 22 new staff members have joined the ranks, with the deadline for a number of other positions this Friday
I appeal to healthcare professionals who meet the criteria for the positions to please apply if they have not done so yet. Details are available on the City website, www.capetown.gov.za
The City has positions available for doctors, nurses, clinic managers, pharmacists and pharmacy assistants, among others.
City Health continues to play a crucial role in the COVID-19 efforts, despite a number of challenges posed to staff on the frontlines.
Our clinic staff are assisting with screening and testing of clients as part of the revised Western Cape COVID-19 strategy, which we communicated on last week. https://tinyurl.com/y78ykdwf
In addition, our Environmental Health Practitioners are on the ground, with the assistance of other key City departments, to continue the education and awareness aspects around the virus.
Our Health staff have been working non-stop – even before the first confirmed case in Cape Town – to ensure that our city is able to deal as effectively as possible with the pandemic.
To date, our 104 facilities, in conjunction with our provincial health partners have assisted with more than 160 000 tests across the metropole.
The COVID-19 caseload in the metropole currently stands at just over 17 000 and is expected to increase exponentially as we approach the peak of the pandemic in the coming weeks.
The role of our staff on the frontline has also meant a greater risk to their personal safety and that of their loved ones.
In recent weeks, we have seen that risk realised, as a number of our clinics have had to be closed on a temporary basis where positive cases have been identified.
It is likely that more closures will sporadically occur in the coming months, as the number of individuals with COVID-19 increases.
The City has seen more than 35 of our clinics closing for sanitation and deep cleaning over the course of the pandemic.
We have conducted oversight visits at the clinics to ascertain if our health system can handle the additional pressures.
Primary Health facilities have been resilient to these shocks and started delivering chronic medication to patients’ homes, which reduces the number of residents visiting clinics.
Our overflow clinics which take on the workload of closed facilities have been extremely resilient, and I thank the nurses and doctors for their dedication to our residents.
Where a healthcare worker case is detected, a risk assessment is conducted by the City’s Occupational Health and Safety branch to determine whether full closure is required, or whether limited services can continue.
In the event of partial or full closure, the affected area or entire facility is decontaminated and reopened to the public as soon as this process is completed, and depending on the availability of staff.
Where there is a risk of staff possibly having been exposed, they will be placed in isolation, or tested – again, depending on the findings of the risk assessment.
The City reassures the public that we are working very hard to ensure the health and wellbeing of our staff, as well as the public during this unprecedented health crisis.
Where clinic closures are necessitated, clients are referred to other nearby facilities until such time as their facility is reopened.
End
Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
