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The Limpopo Department of Health continued with its Covid-19 mass-screening programme in the Vhembe area with a visit to Eltivillas on Wednesday. Apart from mobile clinics, door-to-door screening did take place unlike in Louis Trichardt the previous day were little if any door-to-door screening took place. Pictured is the executive mayor of the Vhembe District Municipality, Cllr Dowelani Nenguda (right), at the home of Eltivillas resident Mr Bashid Cassim. Nenguda visited the 69-year-old Cassim to explain what the Health Department is doing. Photo: Bernard Chiguvare.

Effectiveness of Limpopo screening process questioned

Date: 17 April 2020 By: Andries van Zyl

After a week of trying to find out whether the wearing of face masks and protective gloves is compulsory if you want to avoid being locked up, as well is whether items such as light bulbs are considered essential items, the Zoutpansberger is none the wiser.

The newspaper could find no clear government guidelines on the above anywhere, apart from what was originally proclaimed at the start of the lockdown. This lack of clear guidelines continues to cause confusion and frustration. “You are not allowed to buy cigarettes or alcohol, but you can buy luxury items such a chocolate, ice cream and cookies because it is classified as essential items. How does that work!?” remarked one irate resident.

After numerous requests from readers to find out more about the Limpopo Department of Health’s planned mass-screening programme that started on Monday, the newspaper struggled once again to find out who should be doing what and when.

This follows the Limpopo Department of Health’s release of their Covid-19 household-screening schedule from 14 April to 24 April for the Vhembe area, with the department’s spokesperson, Mr Neil Shikwambana, indicating that the screening would be done from door to door.

Louis Trichardt was due to be screened on 14 April. Soon, Facebook was abuzz with people wanting to know when the health-care workers would be in their area (street) to do screening. Others wanted to know if the screening process would include physical contact.

Optimistic about getting answers quickly, since most residents of the Soutpansberg - like their fellow South African citizens - are eager to assist the government in stopping the spread of the coronavirus and putting an end to the now extended lockdown period, the newspaper asked Shikwambana to explain how the process would work.

No reply was received.

With no response from the department’s provincial spokesperson, the Zoutpansberger eventually tracked down Vhembe’s district executive manager of the screening programme, Mr Robert Sirwali.

Sirwali was quick to respond. Most of the newspaper’s questions centred around the actual screening process. The questions included, apart from the date on which screening would take place in a specific area, how people would know to go outside to be screened. Sirwali was also asked where the screening would take place, after numerous residents indicated that they were not comfortable with allowing the screening staff into their homes.

“Cadres are deployed to all villages and they don’t enter houses but wait in the gate. Councillors and traditional leaders, where possible, have informed their subjects to be ready for such visits. Fortunately, most of the cadres are working in those villages and are known by many families. Loudspeakers are used by some councillors and civic structures in other areas,” Sirwali said. He added that the media also assisted them in informing people when screening would take place in their area and assured residents that the screening process is non-invasive and merely consists of a questionnaire.

The Zoutpansberger asked residents on its Facebook page to share with the newspaper their experiences of being screened at their homes. What soon became clear, however, was that little to no door-to-door screening was taking place in Louis Trichardt.

When asked whether door-to-door screening had taken place in Louis Trichardt on Monday, Sirwali wanted to know if the newspaper was referring to the Louis Trichardt Memorial Hospital or a local clinic? This prompted the question: What happened to the door-to-door screening then? “Hospitals … were doing that. Mass screening will be done on sites. We can’t refer all clients to hospitals. There is no contradiction here,” said Sirwali.

The question, however, remains. Did door-to-door screening in Louis Trichardt take place? To this, Sirwali responded: “From the 14 to 24 [April] households will be visited for screening by CHWs [community health workers]. Upon signs and symptoms, CHWs will activate and arrange for testing … at home.” He added that he was awaiting an update from the mass-screening coordinators and that they would adapt their plans to make sure that all areas were covered with regard to screening.

The above highlighted once more the concerns about the Limpopo Health Department’s lack of transparency and effectiveness in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic and, for the same reason, the accuracy of their Covid-19 statistics.

Regarding the above, the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Limpopo issued a press statement on Wednesday wherein they call upon Limpopo Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba and her department to urgently inform the Limpopo Legislature’s health portfolio committee on developments and progress with regard to the province’s response to Covid-19. “While we acknowledge and welcome the response to the virus by the Limpopo Department of Health, there has been very little information forthcoming to the health portfolio committee members to assist them in carrying out their duties.

“We have written to the Health MEC, Phophi Ramathuba, and Health Portfolio chairperson Joshua Matlou on the 6th of April, calling on the Limpopo Health Department to communicate their progress, plans and their challenges in tackling the spread of Coronavirus in the province to the Health portfolio committee members, but to no avail,” reads the statement.

With this severe lack of information in mind, the DA proposed a virtual meeting between the portfolio committee and the Provincial Department of Health to receive a verbal or written report on, among others, the number of tests conducted, the results published, the methodology of compiling the report and the associated backlog of tests and figures.

In the meantime, door-to-door screening did apparently take place in Eltivillas on Wednesday.

 

 
 
 

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

 
 

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