Ramaphosa: Money not an issue in providing beds, staff in Western Cape
President Cyril Ramaphosa says the biggest priority for the Western Cape government is to solve the shortage of health workers as its battles to contain Covid-19.
Ramaphosa and Health Minister Zweli Mkhize were in the Western Cape on Friday to assess the province’s efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus.
A presentation by the Western Cape government revealed that 5272 health workers are needed in the province to fight against the deadly coronavirus.
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“Costs is not the issue, but saving lives should be the issue,” Ramaphosa told Premier Alan Winde.
“Not having enough staff members is not going to be an excuse that I will accept, money is not going to be an issue. We must pull out all stops to save lives.”
Currently the Western Cape remains the country’s hotspot with 66.2% of the country’s confirmed cases.
The rapid rise in infections has also seen the province run out of hospital beds.
“I am not satisfied with the limit that you think you are going to have. It is better to over-provide than under-provide. This is an issue that I am particularly not happy with,” Ramaphosa said.
“I still think that faced with the challenge that we have of greater infections in the Western and having had 77% of deaths in the country, you will need more beds.”
The Western Cape has confirmed that it will have a shortfall of 750 ICU beds and a shortfall of 1000 acute beds in the province, when it hits its peak in July.
The province has added an additional 800 beds at its quarantine facility at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.