Nurses in Swaziland (eSwatini) want a major hospital
closed down, the patients discharged, and then it reopened as a scaled-down
coronavirus centre.
Healthcare is
in disarray across the kingdom and nurses do not have
enough personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves and gowns.
Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) President Bheki Mamba called
for the closure of Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital at Manzini after the
first healthcare worker, a 35-year-old nurse, tested positive for coronavirus
(COVID-19).
Nurses and healthcare workers have been calling for better protection
against the virus since it emerged last month. The Swazi Government has
threatened to charge them with breaking the new National Emergency Regulations
if they refuse to work without adequate protection.
Mamba said RFM should close down, discharge all patients and deal with
only emergencies. He said the hospital must then test all healthcare workers,
fumigate wards and get help from extra professional healthcare workers, before
reopening. This would ensure the safety of workers and patients.
In a
statement the Communist Party of Swaziland said the situation at RFM was
‘totally chaotic’. It said, ‘Provision of personal protective equipment has
been inadequate and uneven, testing has been infrequent, often replaced by
largely ineffectual “risk-assessment”, only wards and departments where cases
of COVID-19 have been suspected have been fumigated, instead of fumigating the
entire hospital.’
It added no emergency strategic programme had been enacted by the hospital
management even after several weeks since King Mswati III, the kingdom’s
absolute monarch, declared a national
emergency.
It said, ‘No national emergency or disaster coordinating committee
exists for spearheading the national response to the pandemic. Instead,
decisions apparently come from Mswati, who hasn’t been seen in weeks.’
As of 18 April there had been one
recorded death from coronavirus and 22 people had tested
positive.
See also
Coronavirus:
Swaziland hospitals in crisis, PM forms emergency task groups
Swaziland
hospital thrown into confusion as suspected coronavirus patient admitted
Swaziland
nurses refuse to treat patients until they get protective equipment
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