75 SANDF doctors, nurses deployed to help Eastern Cape hospitals

The Eastern Cape’s most overwhelmed hospitals, beset by a critical shortage of equipment, understaffing and a high number of Covid-19 infections, will be assisted by a military medical team of 75 doctors and nurses deployed to the province.

The announcement was made by Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane on Tuesday during one of his weekly Covid-19 press briefings. “We want to thank our health workers for their continued dedication and care for Covid-19 patients,” Mabuyane further said.The province has 38 081 people infected by the virus and 528 deaths, with 19 490 recoveries as of Monday.They arrived days after Mabuyane made a public admission about the overwhelmed health systems of the province and asked President Cyril Ramaphosa for the help of the military health services team.

The facilities are situated in four hotspots of the province – Nelson Mandela Metro, Buffalo City Metro, OR Tambo District and Chris Hani District. Nelson Mandela Bay with 10 442 infections is followed by Buffalo City Metro, which has 9 095 infections.

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