DA calls on Mkhize to brief Parliament on rising Covid-19 cases in the Eastern Cape
24 November 2020
Note to Editors: Please find attached a soundbite by SiviweGwarube MP.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on the Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, to urgently brief Parliament on the situation that is unfolding in the Eastern Cape, specifically in the Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB) area. I will be writing to the Chairperson m of the Portfolio Committee on Health, Dr SibongiseniDhlomo, to urgently place this matter on the committee’s agenda for this coming Wednesday.
The NMB Municipality has seen a rapid rise in Covid-19 cases which are a great cause for concern. The problem seems to be multi-pronged. There are cases rising due to behavioral patterns from the people of this area which are spreading the virus at pace. However, there is also no healthcare system capacity to deal with these cases and the hospital admissions flowing from them. Eastern Cape hospitals are said to be beyond capacity and healthcare workers once again placed on the front lines of this pandemic without the necessary support.
The DA calls on Minister Mkhize to address the following:
The contingency plans to deal with a possible second wave of the virus in the NMB area and the province at large;
What systems have been put in place to capacitate healthcare facilities to deal with rising numbers of cases;
How many additional healthcare workers would be allocated to the province to help deal with this crisis;
What management support is being provided to the province to deal with its inherent system weaknesses in the provincial department of health;
What measures are being put in place to create awareness in communities as we head towards the holiday season not only in the Eastern Cape but across the country.
South Africa can ill-afford to have a full-blown second wave which would force any kind of shutdown of the economy. The reality is that we are in deep economic trouble and people are literally going hungry due to the loss of employment and broken social assistance systems. We need to get ahead of the curve and ensure the Department of Health is prepared to deal with this crisis in the Eastern Cape.
We know that the Eastern Cape has deep rooted issues which span from poor political and administrative leadership to inadequate health infrastructure. We cannot allow what happened a couple of months ago to happen again when we should have learnt crucial lessons about how to fix what is broken in the province.
The Minister of Health must appear before the Portfolio Committee on Health this week and urgently answer these critical questions. As members of Parliament, we need to ensure that no lives are lost unnecessarily in the province. Failure to hold the Minister of Health and his department to account would be a dereliction of our constitutional obligations.
Issued by Siviwe Gwarube, DA Shadow Minister of Health, 24 November 2020
