At Life Healthcare, the well-being of our patients, staff, doctors, and visitors is of paramount importance.

We continue to work closely with the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) and have put in place a number of measures to support our current infection prevention and risk protocols for suspected and positive COVID-19 cases.

As it is standard practice in every medical environment, patient confidentiality remains a high priority.

All relevant hospital staff, including emergency units, have been briefed and trained according to the NICD and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and are prepared to manage suspected and positive cases of the virus within specified protocols.

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

Furthermore, as part of our precautionary safety measures to reduce the foot traffic within our hospitals, visitors to the hospital should note the following:

• Visiting hours have been restricted to one hour per day. Times vary from hospital to hospital, and we urge the public to please contact their local Life Healthcare hospital for revised times.
• The number of visitors permitted during visiting hours is one per patient, per indicated visiting time slot.

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 alternatively contact the 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. 

We ask the public to assist our hospitals as we try to limit the number of worried-well persons entering the emergency unit and hospital.

We continue to ensure that the communities in which we operate receive the highest standards of quality care and will continue to ensure that standard hospital operations continue as normally as possible during this challenging time.

We have also engaged with the Department of Health to offer our support and assistance as we remain committed to working closely with Government to ensure that our country is able to provide the appropriate care for all South Africans at this time, especially those who may be infected with the COVID-19 virus and who require urgent and effective care.

More information on COVID-19 is available on the NICD website: http://www.nicd.ac.za/diseases-a-z-index/covid-19/  and a Frequently Answered Question document is also available on the Life Healthcare website: https://www.lifehealthcare.co.za/news-and-info-hub/covid-19/.