Sama welcomes 'long overdue' level 4 restrictions
While the South African Medical Association (Sama) has welcomed tougher health measures to stem the spread of the third Covid-19 wave, it says these rules were long overdue.
"We welcome the closing of schools this Wednesday. We still of the opinion that it should have been done right from the beginning. Regarding inter-provincial travelling, the problem is it is going to be very difficult to control that,” says Sama chairperson Dr Angelique Coetzee.
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"We noticed the curfew is being extended until 9 o'clock at night, it should also have been extended until around about 5 or 6 o' clock in the morning as we know that 4 o'clock in the morning is extremely cold and the windows in taxis will not be opened.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa's placed the country under alert level 4 of the lockdown for two weeks.
Coetzee says they are pleased that additional nursing staff will be brought in.
"The problem is if you are going to employ as much nursing sound as you want, if they are not ICU trained or high care trained it's not going to help alleviate the pressure where you notice that he mention the oxygen supply, but by only mentioning it, it is not really going to help us. We need to address it and there needs to be an urgent workgroup together."
