Nurses and some health workers at Donald Fraser hospital near Vhufuli will be able to sanitise and wear masks and gloves after the executive mayor of the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM), Cllr Dowelani Nenguda, handed over some boxes of sanitiser, masks and hand gloves.
Cllr Nenguda, who was joined by the traditional leader of Tshitereke-Nzhelavhalimi village, headman Mmbangiseni Tshitereke, some councillors of the VDM and the CEO of Donald Fraser Hospital, Mr Muthuhadini Mufamadi, handed over some boxes full of sanitisers, masks and gloves on Monday to the hospital.
Mufamadi told Nenguda that they had developed a Covid-19 response and preparedness plan progress report since the outbreak of the virus in April. He expressed his thanks for the donation of sanitisers, face masks, and gloves, which were donated to places such as the hospital where they had some challenges in this regard.
According to Mufamadi, the hospital has a Covid-19 isolation ward with 13 beds and a designated section for collection of Covid-19 specimens from suspected cases. No employee has tested positive yet.
"Currently, the hospital does not admit severe cases of Covid-19 - those who need ventilators. We also screen all patients entering the hospital and staff members and identify patients to be investigated for the virus. We used to isolate suspected virus infections immediately, and we take specimens and set up a contingency of pharmaceutical supplies," said Mufamadi.
"We have also enforced the wearing of face masks within the hospital by patients, employees and everybody who enters the hospital," he added.
Nenguda said as the district command council, they were trying to engage with businesspeople to help with the donation of much-needed items to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.