Netcare temporarily closes its Parklands Hospital in Durban
A THIRD Netcare hospital in KwaZulu-Natal has closed its emergency department during the Covid-19 pandemic. Picture: Supplied A THIRD Netcare hospital in KwaZulu-Natal has closed its emergency department during the Covid-19 pandemic. Picture: Supplied
Durban - A THIRD Netcare hospital in KwaZulu-Natal has closed its emergency department during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Netcare Hospitals regional director Craig Murphy on Sunday said Parklands Hospital was open and operating, but the emergency department, located inside the hospital, was currently being relocated to a new area and was therefore temporarily closed for emergency cases.
The relocated emergency department was expected to reopen shortly and was not related to any Covid-19 cases.
“EMS service providers are aware that the hospital’s emergency departments are closed and will therefore transport people needing medical care from the scene of the accident or incident directly to another appropriate emergency department.
“People who make their own way to an emergency department will also have to visit an alternative facility,” said Murphy.
Recently, a man with stage four prostate cancer died at Parklands Hospital due to Covid-19-related complications.
Meanwhile, last week, Netcare Kingsway Hospital temporarily closed, and transferred patients and directed other patients to public hospitals, after a patient tested positive for Covid-19, in order to contain the spread of the virus and trace all possible contacts.
Earlier this month, the Health Department and Netcare decided to shut down Netcare St Augustine’s Hospital after 66 people, including staff and patients, tested positive for Covid-19.
Murphy said they could not disclose information regarding the Covid-19 cases that were discovered at Kingsway and St Augustine’s hospitals without consent from the National Health Department.
On Sunday, Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu said 10 staff members at Kingsway Hospital had tested positive for Covid-19, but tests were continuing and the department was awaiting results.
At St Augustine’s Hospital, Simelane-Zulu said they had decided to keep the dialysis building open because it was separate from the main building.
However, last week they found that seven patients had tested positive for the virus and they have given the hospital a week to relocate the patients to other hospitals.
She also said they were still awaiting results of the investigation into the two hospitals following an outbreak of Covid-19 cases at both facilities.