Scramble to contain cholera outbreak in Tshwane
THE source of the cholera outbreak, which has led to the deaths of 10 people and seen 37 others admitted to the Jubilee Hospital in Hammanskraal, Pretoria, will only be confirmed by Wednesday.
This was according to the various health stakeholders who gathered at the Jubilee Hospital yesterday following the outbreak of the disease in the area.
The outbreak was confirmed by Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko as she, alongside Tshwane Health MMC Rina Marx, as well as political parties, conducted a walkabout at the hospital yesterday to assess the situation and prepare additional facilities to assist the community.
The Gauteng Health Department said specimens of 19 people who presented with symptoms of diarrhoea, stomach cramps and nausea were taken to confirm that there was an outbreak.
Since last Monday, the department said 95 patients had been seen at the hospital, with 37 admitted and 10 deceased. Areas affected included Kanana, Carousel View, Greenfield, Hans Kekana View, Stinkwater, Suurman, Sekampaneng and Portion 9.
The MEC said the hospital would be opening two additional wards to accommodate patients who could not be immediately admitted, with two nurses from the Tshwane District Hospital and local clinics dispatched overnight to assist.
In addition, she said the City of Tshwane had mobilised more resources to activate counselling and social relief for the affected families, as well as to urge communities not to drink tap water.
Outbreak Response District teams have already been activated at churches, local institutions and loud-hailing to provide communities with preventative measures to take to keep themselves safe.
MMC Marx said, as it stood, the municipality was not sure if the contamination emanated from the supplied water. However, she added that the municipality knew that some areas only used the water tankers for consumption and that samples had been taken, with the results thereof only to be available by Wednesday.
She said the samples had been taken from water tankers and river outlets upstream and downstream, which was in addition to the municipality’s monthly analysis of the water. The latest samples conducted three weeks back which were clear.
Nkomo-Ralehoko said they had already engaged the National Department of Water and Sanitation and Human Settlements to add additional capacity to support the municipality and curb the spread
“The Department of Health and Wellness would like to urge the public to take extra precautionary measures and maintain proper hygiene, and the public is urged to avoid known or suspected contaminated water. Never drink water from unsafe sources such as rivers and streams unless it has been boiled or disinfected.
“We advise the public to report to the nearest health facilities should they present symptoms such as diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps or dehydration symptoms to receive treatment immediately. We plead with the public to be vigilant in the next few days while we are all trying to gain control of the situation,” she said.
THERE appears to be no deadline for appointing a new contractor to restart work to capacitate Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant in the City of Tshwane, almost eight months since the municipality fired the previous contractor for abandoning the project.
Executive mayor Cilliers Brink told the Pretoria News that he would not like to set deadlines for the capital project to restart because he didn’t want to make empty promises.
“It is very difficult for me to set out the deadline because as a politician I am not in charge of the procurement system. We will certainly put pressure on the city manager and the internal bid committee. But for me to promise that by month end it will restart would be not credible and we risk breaching the trust of people if we make promises that we can’t keep,” he said.
Brink’s utterance came after he announced during the State of Capital Address last week that at least R2.5 billion would be needed for upgrades during the project’s second phase.
He said he met Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mcunu and the two agreed to “bring our technical teams together in the next two weeks to discuss possibilities. And if anything is on the table, let’s do whatever needs to be done to improve the quality of water in Pretoria North and Hammanskraal”.
For more than a decade, the problem of dirty water supplied to Hammanskraal residents has been attributed to lack of capacity of Rooiwal plant to purify waste water, resulting in the sludge being discharged into the Apies River.
The Apies River, in turn, supplied water to Temba water treatment plant, used for purifying water for Hammanskraal residents.
Asked about the type of work currently taking place at Rooiwal, Brink said: “There are two types of work that need to be done; the first one is capital upgrade, and that is in three phases. Phase three, I think it was 60% done when the contractor walked off site.”
He also pointed out that the project had been riddled with tender irregularities and several officials implicated were facing disciplinary processes.
Brink said: “At present we are still at the stage of appointing consultants and so on to start the work. So, capital work is not being done. The second leg of the work is operational work.”
He said the second phase, including crucial upgrades at the plant, would cost an estimated R2.5bn.
Brink said bulk equipment had been procured and just needed to be installed. “And that will seriously improve the quality of affluence that goes down to Temba.”