Health experts divided on South Africa's preparedness for health disasters
'We don’t even need a pandemic. You just need an outbreak. We saw some of these cholera outbreaks and how difficult it was to treat these patients,' said Dr Angelique Coetzee.
Several private sector frontline workers will also receive their vaccinations at Groote Schuur and Tygerberg hospitals this weekend. Picture: Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - Health experts remain divided on South Africa's preparedness for another disaster, four years after the devastating COVID-19 pandemic first hit.
South Africa, like many other countries, implemented strategies to slow the spread of COVID, including lockdowns of varying severity.
Stay-at-home orders, travel bans and strict curfews were instituted by government to curb the pandemic.
The death toll from COVID complications has since surpassed 100,000.
Government believes its response to the COVID pandemic was swift and decisive.
It says the lessons learned from fighting the deadly disease have prepared the country to better deal with future global health threats.
But former chairperson of the South African Medical Association, Dr Angelique Coetzee doesn’t think this is true.
“We don’t even need a pandemic. You just need an outbreak. We saw some of these cholera outbreaks and how difficult it was to treat these patients.”
A shortage of medical expertise, a lack of funds, infrastructural challenges and a perceived lack of transparency and accountability continue to plague the public healthcare sector.
While infectious diseases epidemiologist Professor Salim Abdool Karim agreed that these posed a threat to the wellbeing of the sector, he said it’s not all doom and gloom.
“We now have a situation where we can make mRNA vaccines, we have in place the ability to monitor viruses that we’ve never had before.”
Both experts agree that the sector will remain on high alert for some time to come.