40 nurses quarantined at Pari

Nokuthaba Nkomo

STAFF WRITER

nkomon@dailynews.co.zw

ABOUT 40 nurses have been placed on quarantine at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals after exposure to a Covid-19 patient who was admitted under the impression that he had malaria.

This comes as the patient had been receiving malaria treatment at the central hospital only to test positive for Covid-19 on the day he was due to be discharged recently.

The Zimbabwe Health Apex Council blamed the exposure of staff members to personal protective equipment (PPEs) shortages in most hospitals.

“The PPEs that are currently being provided are inadequate to give necessary protection to employees. For example, health workers are not wearing N95 respirator masks, but instead are being provided with surgical masks. Not only this, instead of wearing a gown, they are provided with plastic aprons which are totally incapable of offering any protection against Covid-19.

“Currently, we have an approximate number of 40 nurses who had to undergo quarantine after it was deemed they had been in contact with a Covid-19 patient at Parirenyatwa,” read an apex council letter to the Health Service Board.

Meanwhile, the government has restored the flexi-hours system allowing nurses to report for duty at most three times a week in a bid to temporarily address their incapacitation.

Zimbabwe Nurses Association (Zina) president Enoch Dongo said the development was communicated to him through verbal communication.

“The flexi-hours system has been restored for now,” he said briefly.

The system was earlier last week suspended by the government as it sought to strengthen the fight against Covid-19. However, this did not sit in well with nurses who accused the government of being inconsiderate of their incapacitation and threatened to strike.