Oshikoto health workers hardest hit by Covid-19
The health ministry is adamant that its employees did not contract the virus at work, but at weddings and other parties during the festive season.
TUYEIMO HAIDULA
OSHAKATI
Oshikoto Region health workers make up more than half of the 1 488 who have tested positive for coronavirus in Namibia.
Health ministry executive director Ben Nangombe has issued a statement in response to a recent newspaper article, denying that many of the employees had contracted the virus at work.
The hardest hit district is Onandjokwe, with 525 cases, followed by Tsumeb district with 299 and Omuthiya with 200 cases.
Nangombe said ambulance drivers, doctors, nurses, radiographers, cleaners, a data clerk and a health assistant were among the Covid-19 cases identified in the Onandjokwe district.
At the Onandjokwe Intermediate Hospital, 23 staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Nangombe said from 25 July until 14 December 2020 the Onandjokwe hospital had recorded only four cases among its staff.
Weddings and parties
The first staff member to test positive had returned from leave with symptoms.
“He had travelled to Windhoek and Grootfontein. Two had attended a wedding party at a village in Oshikoto Region, which was attended by an individual who was later confirmed as a Covid-19 positive, thus these infections were not acquired in hospital settings.
“Among 19 cases, seven had direct links to wedding parties where several other attendees had tested positive. Five of those cases are friends of those who had attended the parties. Twelve cases in total are linked to weddings and other parties that took place in December,” Nangombe said.
He said data shows that the majority of infections among healthcare workers are linked to sources outside the health facilities.
Nevertheless, the ministry encourages all health workers to continue protecting themselves appropriately at work. Nangombe said all ministry staff are provided with the necessary personal protective equipment (PPEs) at work.
“They are provided with PPEs depending on their risk of exposure to infection. So far, none of the healthcare workers involved in the swabbing of all positive cases in the entire district have tested positive.
“Similarly, there has not been a doctor, nurse or any other institutional worker who worked in the Covid-19 ward who has tested positive during or immediately after serving in that ward,” he said.
Oshikoto health director Joshua Nghipangelwa recently explained that all ambulance drivers had received training on how to deal with Covid-19-related transfers and at no point are they allowed to work with bare hands.
“They have their masks and sanitisers. Those in theatre wear surgical masks. We have the basics required to fight Covid-19.
It does not translate to say you are fighting with bare hands. Nurses and doctors are working two weeks straight without a break. We all need to work together to fight this,” Nghipangelwa said.
[email protected]
OSHAKATI
Oshikoto Region health workers make up more than half of the 1 488 who have tested positive for coronavirus in Namibia.
Health ministry executive director Ben Nangombe has issued a statement in response to a recent newspaper article, denying that many of the employees had contracted the virus at work.
The hardest hit district is Onandjokwe, with 525 cases, followed by Tsumeb district with 299 and Omuthiya with 200 cases.
Nangombe said ambulance drivers, doctors, nurses, radiographers, cleaners, a data clerk and a health assistant were among the Covid-19 cases identified in the Onandjokwe district.
At the Onandjokwe Intermediate Hospital, 23 staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Nangombe said from 25 July until 14 December 2020 the Onandjokwe hospital had recorded only four cases among its staff.
Weddings and parties
The first staff member to test positive had returned from leave with symptoms.
“He had travelled to Windhoek and Grootfontein. Two had attended a wedding party at a village in Oshikoto Region, which was attended by an individual who was later confirmed as a Covid-19 positive, thus these infections were not acquired in hospital settings.
“Among 19 cases, seven had direct links to wedding parties where several other attendees had tested positive. Five of those cases are friends of those who had attended the parties. Twelve cases in total are linked to weddings and other parties that took place in December,” Nangombe said.
He said data shows that the majority of infections among healthcare workers are linked to sources outside the health facilities.
Nevertheless, the ministry encourages all health workers to continue protecting themselves appropriately at work. Nangombe said all ministry staff are provided with the necessary personal protective equipment (PPEs) at work.
“They are provided with PPEs depending on their risk of exposure to infection. So far, none of the healthcare workers involved in the swabbing of all positive cases in the entire district have tested positive.
“Similarly, there has not been a doctor, nurse or any other institutional worker who worked in the Covid-19 ward who has tested positive during or immediately after serving in that ward,” he said.
Oshikoto health director Joshua Nghipangelwa recently explained that all ambulance drivers had received training on how to deal with Covid-19-related transfers and at no point are they allowed to work with bare hands.
“They have their masks and sanitisers. Those in theatre wear surgical masks. We have the basics required to fight Covid-19.
It does not translate to say you are fighting with bare hands. Nurses and doctors are working two weeks straight without a break. We all need to work together to fight this,” Nghipangelwa said.
[email protected]
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article