INGUTSHENI Central Mental Hospital in Bulawayo has recorded 15 COVID-19 positive cases among its staff and inmates although they are fully vaccinated.
The issue was confirmed yesterday by Ingutsheni Hospital
chief executive Nemache Mawere, who told Southern Eye that the COVID-19
outbreak occurred last week.
“We had a massive outbreak of both patients and staff who
contracted the COVID-19 virus a fortnight ago,” Mawere said.
“I would like to encourage people to get vaccinated because
after our institution was affected, we did not experience any severe cases
because everyone had got the jabs,” he said.
Mawere said it was likely that members of staff who lived
outside the institution were the ones who transmitted the infection.
“I believe that the members of staff are the ones who have
been spreading the COVID-19 virus to patients because they get exposed to many
people out there. We had two of our staff members who fell sick recently. What
we have been doing is that we go to every ward to test patients who were in
contact with the members of staff who had contracted the virus,” he said.
Mawere said there was overcrowding at the institution.
“We are facing challenges in trying to isolate patients due
to lack of space. As you know, we have
been facing space challenges for a long time. This is worrying because space is
imperative in terms of social distancing in order to curb the spread of the
virus. We are doing all we can to keep
the institution in shape,” he said.
The mental health institution’s latest statistics reveal
that out of 650 patients, 40% are females, while 60% are males. There were
fears that the institution might have a serious COVID-19 outbreak due to
overcrowding. Newsday
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