At Life Healthcare, the well-being of our patients, employees, doctors and visitors within the communities we serve is of utmost importance to us.

The COVID-19 virus is having an unparalleled impact on our way of life, with President Cyril Ramaphosa announcing an initial 21-day lockdown in South Africa with a further extension of 14 days to combat the spread of the virus.

The extended lockdown is effective until Thursday, 30 April and we would like to assure our communities that all Life Healthcare hospitals remain open and operational during this time. As the situation continues to evolve, we are frequently consulting with government, our doctors and employees to ensure that our protocols and processes remain relevant for the needs of our patients. This means that all our patients needing urgent health care will receive the quality care that they need at our hospitals.

Where surgeries are still scheduled to take place, we believe that our doctors will make responsible decisions, with fully informed consent on the part of the patient, as to the necessity for admission to hospital and the timing of surgery in light of the prevalence of COVID-19. Patients are advised to contact their admitting doctors to confirm the necessity for admission to the hospital and the timing of surgery as a precautionary measure.

The lockdown does, however, impact non-essential services and as a result, all in-hospital coffee and curio shops are closed.

As a responsible corporate citizen, we are ensuring that the risk of infection of all patients, employees, doctors, and visitors to our hospitals is reduced through general COVID-19 screening before entering our facilities. This includes universal masking and the provision of hand sanitisers and a verbal wellness/health check.

Visiting hours, and the number of visitors, have already been restricted to reduce the number of people accessing Life Healthcare facilities. The level of these restrictions have been further increased as follows:

All visiting hours for general wards, ICU and High Care units are suspended.

• Nursery & NICU: One parent at a time will be allowed to visit new-borns. The parent will be subject to strict screening criteria prior to hospital admission.
• Paediatric Wards: Only one parent at a time will be permitted to sleep-in with an admitted paediatric patient. The parent will be subject to strict screening criteria prior to hospital admission.
• Critically ill patients: Limited visitors will be allowed; and only with the consent of the Hospital Manager. Visitors will be subject to strict screening criteria and will be required to wear appropriate personal protective equipment for the duration of the visit.

We urge members of the public who are not sick, but are concerned that they may need COVID-19 testing, to please phone or consult with their General Practitioner or contact the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) on the following support numbers: NICD WhatsApp support line - 0600 123 456 OR the NICD 24-hour hotline - 0800 029 999/ 0800 111 132. 

In the words of our President “We are in this together, and it is by working together that we will prevail.”