HEALTH Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize says the focus is on spreading the vaccination message.
He was speaking in Durban on Monday, 18 January, where he and KZN Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu inspected health facilities.
“There’s no delay with the vaccine and hospital staff, community leaders and teachers should preach the vaccine to everyone,” he said.
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Mkhize and Simelane-Zulu started their inspection at Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital in Umlazi and later moved to emergency medical services at King Dinuzulu Hospital.
He said he visited Durban as he wanted to see how things were going. Mkhize said there was a shortage of staff at hospitals and he made the call for more staff to be employed.
“The use of oxygen has also gone up. People should know that getting oxygen early is more important than waiting until someone is in ICU. So I will also monitor the use of oxygen,” he said.
Mkhize said moving back to level three had a great impact on most hospitals.
“Most trauma incidents are caused by the result of alcohol use. As alcohol has been banned in level three, there was a reduction in casualty wards and that made us focus on the pandemic.”
He said they still appealed to people to stop attending funerals in big numbers.
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“Funerals still remain a concern. There are those who still want to perform rituals on the bodies, which is wrong because they don’t have the effective PPEs. As painful as it is, people must not touch bodies.”
Mkhize also appealed to people to go to hospitals, saying nurses would help them.
He said he would also visit Limpopo and Gauteng, which have high infections.
