HOSPITALS NOT READY FOR VACCINE ROLL-OUT

According to The Citizen, dozens of hospitals may not be ready to start vaccinating patients as soon as planned, politicians have suggested as patience wears thin for the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out to begin.

The alarm bells were set off during the weekend at Steve Biko Hospital in Tshwane after long queues and chaos slowed down the start of the roll-out to private sector healthcare workers.

This was after Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande raised concerns that hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal may not be ready for the vaccination roll-out, as administration infrastructure is insufficient. Nzimande, who is part of the Ministerial Vaccination Committee, raised this issue after he visited Edendale Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, which had been identified as a vaccination site. He noted that the hospital staff did not know when to expect to start receiving vaccine stock.

“The challenge facing the hospital is that it is still using a manual filing system, instead of electronic filing," he said. "This is not a challenge for the health department alone, the government as a whole is facing a similar challenge."