Question NW2013 to the Minister of Health

Reply:

The department has planned adequately for the 5th wave, in the same manner that it did with the previous waves. Immediately after the end of the 4th wave, the Incident Management Team (IMT) conducted the Intra – Action Reviews with the provinces, drawing the lessons from the past experiences but particularly from the 4th wave.

The outcomes of the intra Action Reviews indicated that the department must retain all key interventions such as hospital oxygen management capabilities, number of beds set aside for admission, availability of the respiratory support of devices, which have really made sure that the hospitals succeeded in the management. Human Resources were deployed in line with the community service programme and were made be on standby in the event of the increase in hospital admissions.

Over and above the Intra Action Review, the department also developed the following documents, working with the provinces, through the provincial leads who are members of the IMT.

• The 5th wave resurgence plans
• The reset and recovery plans for the health system
• The plans for the continuity of essential health services.

This was in preparations for the rise in the number of cases, during the 5th wave.

These documents were developed with the support of the World Health Organization and other partners as living documents that get revised every time there is an increase or in preparation for the increase in the number of cases.

END.