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The Gauteng Department of Health spends R380 000/day on beds at the Nasrec Covid-19 field hospital. The last time a report came out of there was in late November, and the facility had admitted 34 patients out of the 1000 beds available. Now the GDoH wants to keep it open
At the 'height' of infections in the country in July, when there were 7500 COVID-19 patients in GP, less than 10% of the beds were ever in use, and most of the 'patients' admitted there were 'persons under investigation', i.e they were there to be tested IF they have COVID
The contract with the Nasrec Expo centre is due to expire on 31 January, but the GDoH says because of the '2nd wave of infections' they will be extending the contract beyond January. Yeah right!
To put things into perspective, this is what it costs to keep this place open:
To put things into perspective, this is what it costs to keep this place open:
Each empty bed costs R380 a day it spends there. This is a fixed cost. There are a thousand beds. Putting a patient on each bed adds an additional R390 a day the patient spends there. So, in November only, over R11 million was spent on empty beds
There are no reports of what exactly is happening at a facility created to relieve pressure at public hospitals. What we do know for sure is that it lies empty and it always has. Why are patients from overcrowded hospitals not being taken there? Is there even any overcrowding?
