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FAMILIES RUN FROM HOSPITAL TO HOSPITAL AS COVID SUFFERERS GASP FOR BREATH BUT… WITH NO BEDS, LOVED ONES DIE CHARLENE SOMDUTH AND CHANELLE LUTCHMAN FOR five days in a row, Dheo Kumar’s family drove around Durban looking for a hospital that would admit and treat him. Last Wednesday, January 6, as his family rushed him to St Augustine’s Hospital, he died. Kumar, 61, was the chief financial officer at the Durban University of Technology. He and his wife Shoba, 58, from Reservoir Hills, contracted the virus in December. On New Year’s Day, Kumar’s condition took a turn for the worse when his oxygen levels dropped. His brother, Krish Kumar, the chief financial officer at eThekwini Municipality, said his brother had no comorbidities. “My brother was super fit but on that…
‘It was a moment that broke me’ ACCORDING to paramedics, ambulances have had to wait for hours with a patient before he or she is treated. Siven Subramodey, the owner of Amawele Emergency Services, said he lost about six patients while they were waiting for hospital treatment. “During this second wave I have had patients pleading with me to save them but all I could do was encourage them to hang on for a bit longer.” He said that recently most patients wait in a queue for an hour or two before they are examined. “You sit with them and you notice their breathing is getting heavier. You see them struggle. They look at you and ask if they will be okay. You say yes, but you can see from…
COMMITTED TO SERVING THE COMMUNITY SIBUSISO NDLOVU African News Agency (ANA)…
MOM DIED BEFORE HER BIRTHDAY Probe into oxygen supply interruption at hospital CHARLENE SOMDUTH charlene.somduth@inl.co.za HUMSHA Naidoo was recovering from Covid-19 and, by all indications, should have survived. However, Naidoo, 57, and six other Covid patients at Lenmed Shifa Hospital died on January 2 after their oxygen supply stopped. The Lenmed Group has now launched an investigation. Naidoo, a former teacher, of Haven-side, Chatsworth, tested positive for the virus in December. She was at home at first but opted for hospitalisation towards the end of December. “My mom felt that the high-pressure oxygen would assist in her recovery,” said her son, Kaelin Naidoo. “As no ventilator was available, the doctor placed her on high flow oxygen and that assisted her. According to her blood reports, her immune level was normal…
PERMISSION FOR TEMPORARY STRUCTURES Hospitals in city run out of beds CHANELLE LUTCHMAN chanelle.lutchman@inl.co.za SUPPLIED WITH a growing number of people testing positive for Covid-19, hospitals are being overwhelmed. Several hospitals in eThekwini no longer have beds available. Earlier this week, Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu, the Health MEC in KwaZulu-Natal, confirmed that several hospitals were overwhelmed. Addressing the media in KwaMashu, she said: “It’s not just the public sector, but also the private sector. The private hospitals are running out of beds, and some have requested that the department grant them permission to put temporary structures outside their hospitals for patients. We have agreed. “In KZN, there are 11 million people, and in eThekwini, we make up between 3.5 and 3.9 million. There is a bigger crunch of infections here and only…
STAFF ARE THE HEROES ‘Our sacrifices do not compare to the grief of families’ NADIA KHAN nadia.khan@inl.co.za THE rising number of Covid-19 deaths has not affected the morale of burial and crematorium staff and volunteers. In an effort to provide a dignified service to grieving families, they are working overtime. Thegraj Cassie, the secretary of the Clare Estate Umgeni Hindu Crematorium Society, said: “Our staff have been real heroes during this time. They are willing to help everyone as far as possible, even if it means working a little longer at their own will. Our aim is to assist the community because of the tragedies that they are experiencing.” He said since last Wednesday, the facility had conducted 35 cremations a day, of which 70% were Covid-related deaths. “Last Monday,…
