AfricaPress-Tanzania: THERE is a remarkable decline in the rate of Covid-19 in the country with most of designated centres and wards remaining empty.
According to statistics issued by the Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Ms Ummy Mwalimu, as of yesterday, there were three patients at Amana Centre and one at Mloganzila while the Kibaha, Dodoma and Mwanza remained empty.
The minister made the revelation in Tanga region, while accompanying Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa, who is in the region for official tour.
“There is no patient in Tanga region, and all the designated quarantine centres in the region have been closed, because we don’t have further infections, thanks to all health specialists,” she pointed out.
A survey conducted by the ‘Daily News’ yesterday in various hospitals and designated centres for the disease’s patient established that none was still being nursed in them.
At Amana Regional Referral Hospital in Ilala District, Dar es Salaam, this newspaper observed empty beds at male, female and VIP wards, which were initially designated for Covid-19 patients.
The facility’s Covid-19 focal person, Dr Stanley Binagi said due to the decline in the number of patients, they have decided to relocate the current patients to a small ward that has 18 beds.
“The centre had 150 bed capacity, 75 being for male and the remaining 75 for female patients. There was a time where occupancy rate reached 100 per cent, thanks to God that with the efforts our team devoted, the number is now down,” he said.
The Amana centre was used as referral hospital for patients from other parts of Dar es Salaam city, at the same time received patients, who went for check-ups.
According to him, by then the hospital was receiving an average of 20 to 40 patients per day, but now the rate stands at between 0 and one on daily basis.
Dr Binagi went on to explain that some Covid-19 patients who died had other health complications too, insisting that those without any underlying health conditions were treated and discharged from the hospital.
“Some got difficulties because of the delay to be attended may be because of the high number of patients, and panic among members of the public, this was one of the challenges that we encountered but things are coming back to normal,” he noted.
The wards have already been decontaminated ready to be used for normal uses, as they were before the Covid-19 outbreak in Tanzania.
According to him, 30 samples from various places in the wards were taken for testing to establish whether they had coronavirus elements, but they showed negative results.
This paper also visited Temeke Centre that has 15 beds which have been all empty since 1st May this year, because its patients had all recovered.
The In-charge of the centre, Dr Sarah Kadala said the achievement obtained was a result of teamwork and dedication from their staff.
According to her, throughout the time, they didn’t have a serious case, as most of those who were admitted were in moderate conditions, except one who was later transferred to Amana for further treatment and recovered.
“We have been working here as a family, loving each other and thank God that during the whole period, there were no deaths and on top of that, none of our colleague became infected…we were too careful and observed all precautions,” she said in a note that was also mentioned by Dr Binagi at Amana hospital.
She was also in support of Dr Binagi that despite the decline in number of new coronavirus cases locally, but still there is a need for the public to continue observing all preventive measures.
“The situation is encouraging, but we don’t have to relax and everybody should continue to observe the recommended measures for our own safety, Coronavirus is yet to be finished,” she said.
Like Amana, the Temeke Centre also remains standby to receive any patient who would test positive.
