Question NW567 to the Minister of Health

Reply:

a) There has been minimal disruption to the delivery of health care services in all flood affected provinces within the public sector. However one private hospital in Komani, Eastern Cape was severely affected by flooding where our public sector Emergency Medical Services assisted with transferring of in-patients to nearby healthcare facilities.

The rendering of Primary Health Care services continued unaffected and assistance was also provided to the displaced community members in temporary shelters where necessary. Temporary shelters were inspected daily to monitor for water-borne diseases. No outbreaks or cases of food borne illness directly attributable to the floods were reported. Medication distribution was also not affected.

b) The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) through the Disaster Management Act of 2002 is responsible for disaster management however the Department of Health has also put several health measures in place at national, provincial and district levels to mitigate for the impact of floods as follows:

i) Governance

• The National Department of Health(NDOH) participates in the inter-sectoral national structures, the National Disaster Management Centres (NDMC); linking with the provincial Departments of Health for national oversight and support.

• The provincial Departments of Health are represented at Provincial Joint Operation Centres (ProvJOC), Provincial Disaster Management Centres (PDMC) and/or local Disaster Management Centres, as activated within the respective provinces for effective and efficient response.

• EMS is placed on high alert to provide emergency response as and when required. EMS from unaffected provinces gets mobilized to assist affected provinces when needed and this is facilitated by NDOH.
• Urban search and rescue teams are on standby to assist affected provinces with rescue and medical personnel.

ii) Hospital Services

iii) Both public and private hospitals are alerted to receive patients in all affected areas in case of diversions as and when needed. If necessary, inpatients will be transferred to unaffected hospitals.

iv) Primary Health Care(PHC) Services If a PHC facility is affected, patients will be directed to an unaffected PHC facility, or mobile clinics will be utilized. PHC services may also be provided in temporary shelters.

v) Environmental Health Services (EHS)

National and Provincial EHS officials provide oversight and support. The respective local government EHS will undertake water quality monitoring and ensure appropriate sanitation measures are adhered to. Temporary shelters, if established, will be inspected by teams from the Environmental Health Units daily.

vi) Communicable Disease Control, COVID-19, Malaria and Zoonotic Diseases

• The respective Outbreak Response Teams at district, provincial and national, are placed on high alert to monitor affected areas and are on standby to respond to any water borne / communicable disease that may arise.

• The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) heightens surveillance for COVID-19, malaria and zoonotic diseases in the affected areas.

vii) Health Promotion & Nutrition

Awareness on water safety and communicable diseases is initiated within the communities as needed. Small scale water purification, safe food handling and keeping and monitoring of food is also done to ensure prevention of food poisoning and communicable diseases.

viii) Food Control

• Food Control makes food safety Information Education and Communication(IEC) material available to respective EHS and Health Promotion teams to create awareness as needed.

• EHS gets also support in terms of inspection of donated foodstuffs to ensure safety, and record keeping as and when required.

ix) Forensic Pathology Services (FPS)

FPS function is to remove bodies of flood victims in close collaboration with SAPS in affected areas.

x) Pharmaceuticals

Medication distribution will be monitored for disruptions and alternate distribution methods are applied.

xi) Risk Communication and Community Engagement

Media releases are undertaken on all platforms as and when required. Monitoring of local media clips, news and social platforms is also ongoing.

Additional technical expertise is also available and gets deployed where needed.

END.