WESTERN CAPE NEWS - The Western Cape Government Health, including the Garden Route and Central Karoo districts, is in the process to make additional acute hospital beds available to provide in the demand that has developed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Leensie Lötter, Garden Route district spokesperson for the Health Department, the patient services (excluding the emergency section) of each hospital in these two districts have been de-escalated to provide beds for Covid-19 patients, according to departmental policy.
"Additional beds and wards will be opened up in existing hospitals as needed to create further space for Covid-19 admissions. Field hospitals are however, regarded as an alternative option, should the need for more beds develop. At the moment specific details about this alternative are not available as we are now focusing on the expansion of the bed capacity of existing hospitals," said Lötter.
She responded to a query from the George Herald regarding the readiness of the Heatherlands High School in George to be used as a field hospital. Early in the lockdown it was mentioned by the Garden Route District Municipality as a venue being considered to be used as such.
Last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa during a visit to the Western Cape opened the field hospital facility created at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (dubbed Hospital of Hope) where the first Covid patients were admitted on Monday 8 June. It has increased the province's capacity by 862 beds. A CITCC 2 project is under discussion.
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