A newly constructed screening and triage centre at Tygerberg Hospital will see better management of patients arriving for COVID-19 testing.
In light of a possible rise in the number of coronavirus infections, clinicians stressed the importance of curbing contact of these cases with other patients at the facility.
Initially, screening was performed in an area set up underneath the hospital’s ambulance deck, but with the approaching winter months, hospital management felt it was necessary to construct a more sheltered space.
Head of General Internal Medicine Dr Neshaad Schrueder said they’d had a lot of people presenting at the facility for COVID-19 testing and needed to control the situation in a safer manner.
“Infection prevention rules around these patients are quite stringent, so we had to do the pre-screening before they enetered communal patient areas so as to prevent further infection.”
Schrueder pointed out that this facility could also be converted into a COVID-19 field hospital if the need arose.
“People that are in recovery phase of the illness or people with a milder illness that can’t go home or need basic care can be housed in this facility.”