Imtiaz Sooliman – COVID19 in SA Gift of the Givers gears up
AI: Summary ©
A representative from the g attendant Foundation discusses the upcoming COVID-19 pandemic and the need for precautions to prevent severe illness. They emphasize the importance of vaccination for preventing future pandemics and the need for a messaging to encourage people to take care of their health and well-being. The g attendant Foundation also mentions the success of their vaccination drive and the need for a messaging to encourage people to take care of their health and well-being.
AI: Summary ©
From drilling boreholes at hospitals to hiring nurses. Our
local heroes at the gift of the givers Foundation are once again
coming to the rescue. The aid organization says it's already
preparing interventions for South Africa's impending, if not already
arrived, fourth covid 19 wave, and this follows the identification of
the new Omicron variant by South African scientists for more on
their plans to help alleviate the pressure on the health system.
We're now joined by gift of the givers, founder and our local hero
again, we said, Dr Imtiaz Suleiman, thank you so much for
joining us, Doctor, the fourth wave, we believe, is already in
gauteng, how bad are things looking there? And do you expect
the fourth wave to be as severe as the first and the second. Doctor,
good morning, Anika. Look, yes, I don't expect, well, I'm not a
scientist. You know, everybody doesn't know it's true early yet,
24th November was the first time they identified the Spain. But it
probably was running around before that, before we identified it. I
measure the critical situation in the country by the calls that I
get. How prepared this has started on 15 March, 2020
from the time you know disaster, national disaster was announced by
the President on the 15th of March, 2020 on that Sunday. And of
course, the first lockdown came on 27th march from that period. We
haven't stopped our intervention, our preparedness, our assisting in
various areas in the health aspect water and food goes lockdown is
also considered as promised, the knockout effect of covid itself.
But the way I judge the situation is when the calls come in, and
strangely enough, for the first time, but the numbers rising so
rapidly, we haven't received any calls. Not one call, not a single
hospital, not a single team member. Nobody calling, nobody
saying, even the public. Nobody's calling. Nobody's saying we need
oxygen. We need oxygen concentrators. We need machines.
We need beds, please. You know we're in trouble. We need help. We
need assistance. Not a single call to that effect has come. So it's
telling you certain things, one that, up till now, the strain
seems to be fairly benign. In terms of the damage it is causing
damage in inverted commas, in terms of the infection that is not
causing severe infection. In the severe infection being, you know,
embolic phenomena and requirement for oxygen, where people die
because of oxygen deficit, doesn't seem to be doing that, but it
didn't seem to stay much faster than the other variants, and that
tells us the problems. It was with the public that we are doing
something that's wrong, that we may be having too many gatherings,
there's too much of close contact, and more importantly, I think a
lot of people are not taking the precautions they're supposed to
take because they think vaccination is a protection
against infection. It is not. I've met so many healthcare workers,
and I travel a lot to the country, to hospitals and events in many
places, and everyone tells me, now we find we vaccinated. You're not
fine if you're vaccinated, because you can still get infection and
you can and maybe infection may be mild in you, but you can cause
spit to other people are not vaccinated, or even if they're
vaccinated. So the first message that we cannot abandon the rules,
you know, the general non pharmaceutical rules. You have to
have the mask. We have to have the distance. You can't have big
events. You have to, you know, have the ventilation, because this
virus is spreading very fast. And though we very happy right now.
And I'm saying happy because our ICOs are not full, our hospitals
are not full. There's no demand for oxygen. But we don't know the
strain yet. Whatever it does something unusual in the next four
or five days and suddenly starts infecting people in a massive way,
and starts causing the damage inside the body after for another
four or five days. We don't know. So precaution is the best
safeguard, Doctor. Interesting that anecdotally, well, you aren't
getting those calls for ventilators and for oxygen.
Certain provinces are shutting down vaccination sites because
people just are not coming for their vaccines, and they're
sitting there just waiting to be used. Do you think we need to push
our vaccination drive again, very I think it's what, 34% of the
population is vaccinated.
The messaging, you know, as just that the person mentioned earlier
in the brief, the messaging should be done by scientists. You know,
they because it causes a lot of confusion. And to be honest, also,
a lot of people are not, I'm thinking, are saying from the
beginning, this is the feedback that we've had from the beginning,
because the covid itself is affected by other issues, or it
affects other cases in the country, other circumstances.
People have been telling us since last year. They say, you're
telling us to take precautions about covid, but we're hungry, we
don't have water. We have other diseases. We have cancer, we have
TB, we have HIV, AIDS. There hasn't been a broad spectrum
approach against all those conditions, and they're saying,
You know what? We are dying in any case, what is being done for all
those conditions? There's a there's a big messaging about the
human rights issue in terms.
Of cancer treatment, you know, tbk is gone, out of control. HIV
complications are coming back. So to have a balanced approach and to
encourage the public and you know, and to show that even ended, we
need to address all the circumstances and situations at
the same time and say, Look, we take an interest all the medical
conditions. And yes, you know, vaccination is important for you.
It's helped to prevent severe illness. And you have the reports
that so many hospitals saying there's so many ICUs and no
patients that were vaccinated. So that kind of messaging has to go
through, but people have to have an understanding that you know
what, it is important, and they take it care of every other
circumstance.
Alright? Thank you so much. That was CEO and founder of gift of the
givers, Dr imtina. Imtiaz Suleiman, thank you so much for
your time.