Swaziland Govt steps up search for coronavirus victims, nurses say they still lack vital equipment

The Ministry of Health in Swaziland (eSwatini) is sending teams of people door-to-door to check if people have the coronavirus.

The kingdom is currently in partial lockdown with many businesses closed and travel severely restricted.

Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi told a press briefing on Monday (6 April 2020), ‘As of last Saturday, the Ministry went out on an active case finding. That means we sent team of people out to come knock on your door, call you, come and check you and see if you have a fever and check your family as well. We are still following a number of people that arrived into the country between the 24 and 26 March.’

About 2,000 people are expected to be visited. The population of Swaziland is about 1.3 million and the vast majority live in rural areas.

Nkosi also said there had been a tenth confirmed case of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Swaziland. This was a woman aged 31 who had been in South Africa. So far there are no reported deaths in the kingdom.

Meanwhile, Bheki Mamba, President of the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) said the E100million approved by the Swazi Parliament to fight the coronavirus had not been spent. He said the situation in public hospitals where doctors, nurses and workers were without basic protective equipment such as masks, gowns and gloves was critical.

Mamba told the Swaziland News, an online newspaper, ‘The situation is getting worse in the various hospitals and might reach a critical stage without the money being made available to buy the necessary equipment. It should be noted here that we are owing the suppliers and definitely, they will demand that government pay upfront before they supply the equipment. 

‘Another major challenge is that, we might not be able to manage the situation as it reaches the critical stage because we don’t have enough quarantine space, Intensive Care Units (ICU) are less than 10 around the country with no relevant equipment.’ 

The Swaziland Ministry of Health issued the following details about the confirmed coronavirus cases on 6 April 2020.

See also

Number of passengers in private cars in Swaziland to be restricted during coronavirus crisis

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/04/number-of-passengers-in-private-cars-in.html

More businesses in Swaziland to close as Govt tightens coronavirus lockdown

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/04/more-businesses-in-swaziland-to-close.html

Nurses angry as Swaziland Govt ignores health crisis

Nurses in Swaziland / eSwatini are angry that the government has ignored their petition calling for urgent action to fix the kingdom’s broke health system.

One of their leaders, Swaziland Nurses Association President Bheki Mamba, said conditions were getting worse and ‘patients were now dying before their very eyes’.

Patients in hospitals are being left unfed, medicines of all descriptions have run out, broken equipment is not repaired and nurses and other public servants have not been paid cost-of-living salary increases.

The Swazi Government which is not elected but handpicked by absolute monarch King Mswati III is broke and owes suppliers E3 billion (US$215 million). Many have refused to do further business until bills are paid.

Workers marched on government on 21 June 2019 to deliver a petition calling for it to prioritise the hiring of nurses and for the health service to be adequately funded. It gave the government one month to act and threatened to ‘render the health sector unworkable’ if it did not act.

Mamba told the Swazi Observer “Up to now, we have not received any invite to discuss the situation as the PS [Principal Secretary] promised when we gave him the petition. Similarly the prime minister’s office has not responded, which is a clear indication that they don’t take the health situation seriously.’

He added, ‘Patients simply starve to death from lack of food. They can’t take any medication without having eaten.’

Local media reported in the past that many people, including children, have died as a result of medicine shortages.

The Observer added, ‘Nurses sent a strong warning, promising to do all they can within their power to expose the real situation to the world; to report government’s failure to address a problem of crippling drug shortages.

‘The nurses have vowed to come all out and beg the international community for assistance, including with money, just to save the health system.’

The Observer reported, ‘The nurses said the ministry lied to the nation, saying it was sending drugs and supplies yet it was only sending  allegedly expired nevirapine drugs for new-borns and Panados. 

Ministry of Health Communications Officer Nomfundo Dlamini said the ministry had now scheduled a meeting with the nurses’ association.

The health crisis has been getting worse over recent years. Patients in public hospitals across the kingdom are not being fed properly because suppliers refuse to deliver food until they are paid by government. Points have been set up across Mbabane, the Swaziland capital, to collect food donations from the public to feed hospital patients.

The food problem is one of many facing the health service. There are shortages of many drugs across the kingdom. Last month (June 2019) it was reported drugs to treat HIV infection were not available in most hospitals and clinics across Swaziland which has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world. As of 2017, 27 percent of the population, or 210,000 people, were infected. 

Other drugs in short supply include those for sexual transmitted infections, epilepsy, hypertension and diabetes. Cancer patients are also being left untreated.

It is not only a problem of drugs. Hospital equipment, including at intensive-care units at Mbabane Government Hospital, has also not been maintained and cannot be used. 

In June 2018 it was revealed there were only 12 working public ambulances in the whole of Swaziland because the government failed to maintain them. It had bought no new ambulances since 2013.

See also

Swaziland cancer patients refused treatment because Govt. has not paid hospital bills

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/swaziland-cancer-patients-refused.html

 

HIV drugs not available across Swaziland as health crisis deepens

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/06/hiv-drugs-not-available-across.html

Swaziland health crisis getting worse as budgets cut. Rural areas most affected

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/02/swaziland-health-crisis-getting-worse.html

Food collection points set up in Swaziland as hospital patients unfed after Govt fails to pay suppliers

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2019/07/food-collection-points-set-up-in.html