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By S'thembiso Hlongwane on August 14, 2014
FEAR and panic has gripped Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital in Johannesburg after it was rumoured that the first Ebola patient was admitted in the maternity ward and later transferred to an isolation ward.
The latest news came just a week after Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi said hospitals in the country would be beefed up if an outbreak of the virus occurred.
The Gauteng Health Department, however, denied that a patient from Guinea in West Africa was admitted at the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital after she arrived in the country 13 days ago.
DRUM called the office of the hospital?s CEO who did not deny that there was such a patient but instead referred us to the Gauteng Health Department for comment on the matter.
?Nothing has been confirmed, so there?s no such thing. We?re going to a meeting to talk about this (rumours of first Ebola patient at the hospital) and we will release a media statement later,?? said a communications department spokesperson, who declined to give DRUM her name.
The fear, according to our source, was sparked by a conversation between a doctor and a nurse after a patient from Guinea was admitted.
The source said the staff at the hospital were worried that the patient was going to infect many people, including health workers, other patients and even visitors.
The doctor, according to the source, told the nurse that it was not confirmed that it was Ebola, and that the virus spread if patients are vomiting blood, have diarrhoea and other symptoms.
At the time of publishing the article online, the Gauteng Health Department officials were still locked in a meeting to discuss the fast-spreading rumours of Ebola at the hospital. They promised to release a statement to DRUM after the meeting...
http://drum.co.za/news/first-ebola-c...-south-africa/
FEAR and panic has gripped Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital in Johannesburg after it was rumoured that the first Ebola patient was admitted in the maternity ward and later transferred to an isolation ward.
The latest news came just a week after Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi said hospitals in the country would be beefed up if an outbreak of the virus occurred.
The Gauteng Health Department, however, denied that a patient from Guinea in West Africa was admitted at the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital after she arrived in the country 13 days ago.
DRUM called the office of the hospital?s CEO who did not deny that there was such a patient but instead referred us to the Gauteng Health Department for comment on the matter.
?Nothing has been confirmed, so there?s no such thing. We?re going to a meeting to talk about this (rumours of first Ebola patient at the hospital) and we will release a media statement later,?? said a communications department spokesperson, who declined to give DRUM her name.
The fear, according to our source, was sparked by a conversation between a doctor and a nurse after a patient from Guinea was admitted.
The source said the staff at the hospital were worried that the patient was going to infect many people, including health workers, other patients and even visitors.
The doctor, according to the source, told the nurse that it was not confirmed that it was Ebola, and that the virus spread if patients are vomiting blood, have diarrhoea and other symptoms.
At the time of publishing the article online, the Gauteng Health Department officials were still locked in a meeting to discuss the fast-spreading rumours of Ebola at the hospital. They promised to release a statement to DRUM after the meeting...
http://drum.co.za/news/first-ebola-c...-south-africa/
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