COVID-19 patients often die without family or loved ones by their side. However, they are not entirely alone. People like nurse Anthea Willemse console them in their final hour.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has called the COVID-19 pandemic the gravest crisis in the country’s democratic history. Now, with the Western Cape and Gauteng making up nearly 64 percent of the country’s total confirmed infections, Kathryn Cleary asked departments of health in both provinces how prepared they are for the coming peak.
Testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 can be frightening and traumatic. Nurse Angy Rabothatha is among the many nurses who are part of government’s trace and support teams who help people with COVID-19 on their journey. She shared her story with Biénne Huisman.
The Rural Health Advocacy Project (RHAP) recently hosted an online webinar focusing on social accountability in the nursing education. Professor Laetitia Rispel, SA Research chair on the Health Workforce at Wits, delivered the opening address on challenges facing the nursing profession. We publish an edited extract.
As South Africa’s COVID-19 numbers continues to rise, long-simmering healthcare worker complaints are boiling over. Tiyese Jeranji spoke to trade union representatives from Hospersa, Denosa, Nehawu and YNITU about salary disputes, staff shortages, healthcare workers safety, psychological strain, and access to personal protective equipment.
By last week 1 010 public sector healthcare workers in the Western Cape had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Of these six had passed away of COVID-19. Anncha Kepkey, a nurse at Tygerberg Hospital, is among those who died. Biénne Huisman spoke to her husband about who Anncha was and what happened in the last days of her life.
A few meters from the entrance to Philani Clinic in Queenstown, opposite the gate, is a black-walled tavern. On weekdays, it’s as quiet as a church; but on weekends, music bursts out of its dark interior, cars line the street and patrons dance between them, holding beer cans and bottles.
