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OXYGEN CRISIS HITS 2 MAJOR HOSPITALS

By PHEPHILE MOTAU | 2021-01-18

THE lack of oxygen in the country is far from over as two hospitals are reported to have experienced a shortage of the essential element in the past weekend.

Oxygen is used to treat COVID-19 patients who experience shortage of breath and has been reported to have been scarce since the beginning of the second wave of the pandemic as more people are getting infected. The two hospitals that experienced the shortage are Lubombo Referral Hospital and Hlathikulu Government Hospital.

Government bans hospital visits to curb covid-19

THE ministry of health has urged members of the public to avoid going to any hospital, unless they are facing a medical emergency.

This was said by Director of Health Services Dr. Vusi Magagula yesterday. Dr Magagula said all hospitals in the country had been turned into COVID-19 treatment centres, and therefore, people should avoid going there, particularly for minor ailments.

He warned that the COVID-19 situation in the country was dire, hence all the hospitals were now treating and admitting COVID-19 patients as numbers were increasing on a daily basis.

“People should not go to hospital for attention on things that can wait,” he said,

He said people should visit clinics which are close to them for headache, for example.

Dr Magagula said hospitals like the Mbabane Government Hospital and the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital were visited by people who contracted COVID-19, and others were at risk of contracting the virus by visiting them.

“It is very imperative for people to keep away from hospital when they have minor illnesses, as they become exposed to contracting COVID-19 in hospitals,” he said.

Dr Magagula also said hospitals were, however, attending to those who had emergencies in all the fields of medicine.

“We discourage people who can wait until next year to be attended to wait until the situation is better,” he said.

He also said they would have to be specific on the sort of emergencies, which they would do soon, although it would prove to be a bit complex.

Replenish

According to the Eswatini Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) President Bheki Mamba, the Lubombo Referral Hospital experienced the shortage on Friday.

However, the ministry of health managed to replenish the supply. He said the supply at Hlathikulu Government Hospital was depleted at 2pm on Saturday. Mamba said the hospital was still without oxygen by yesterday afternoon.

Mamba said the oxygen was essential in treating patients as they experience shortness of breath when they are infected with COVID-19 because it prevents the lungs from absorbing it. He further attributed the number of COVID-19 deaths to the shortage of oxygen. The president said part of the symptoms of COVID-19 was the shortness of breath, which led to the oxygen saturation in the body becoming low hence they needed to be put on oxygen cylinder.

“Oxygen is a big challenge everywhere. The shortage of oxygen is related to the high number of deaths. We always say the deaths will go up because of the shortage of oxygen. The shortage leads to the death of people, which is very unfortunate and traumatising to health workers,” he said. He said the oxygen was a challenge even if the hospital had their supply because the number of people who come into hospital in need of oxygen were more than the equipment available to put them on oxygen. Mamba said hospitals could not move people who were already on oxygen for the other patients, as they also needed it.

Concern

He said oxygen was needed for emergency purposes as the country was dealing with COVID-19.

“Everyone who is in hospital requires oxygen, and if there is no oxygen, people are going to die, that is an obvious fact,” he said.

Director of Health Service in the Dr Vusi Magagula said the lack of oxygen was an ongoing concern in the country which is battling the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the oxygen capacity the country has was enough in the past, but was now too low. Dr Magagula said government, as previously reported, was working on a mid-term strategy to ensure that the country has enough oxygen to deal with the crisis, He further said research would have to be done to conclude if the number of deaths was related to the shortage of the oxygen supply, but it was possible.

Dr. Magagula said the oxygen situation was similar to the shortage of PPE during the first wave, where there was too much demand yet the supply was not adequate.

“It is the same case here. Not only are we having challenges with the oxygen but the cylinders as well. We are unable to open new facilities due to the same reasons because there is no point of having more beds without oxygen cylinders. We hope this situation will improve in the short term as soon as we establish the plant in Lubombo and hope we will get more cylinders as well,” Dr. Magagula said Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi disclosed earlier, this month that the country was using up to 1 000 cylinders of oxygen per day in the fight against COVID-19.

Nkosi said there were two companies supplying the country with oxygen. She said they held discussions with the companies in December about the need for more oxygen. Nkosi said one company increased their production capacity by 100 per cent, from 180 to 360 cylinders. She said they also imported more oxygen. The minister said two weeks prior, the country required 400 to 500 cylinders of oxygen and now the figures had doubled.

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