One year into the first case of COVID being detected in South Africa, one nurse recounts the hardships he and other healthcare workers have faced as they battled against the pandemic.
Lebohang Nkoana, a nurse on the frontline at Thelle Mogoerane Hospital in Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni, spoke to IOL of his experiences.
“When Covid-19 came, no one knew what to expect,” said Nkoana, who has been a nurse for eight years and is also a branch secretary for the Democratic Nurses Organisation of SA.
“It was devastating because we were already short-staffed. At first, we were resistant. We did not want to work with Covid-19 patients
“We were just using normal non-sterile gloves. Then we stopped working for two days as we did not want to risk our lives and also because we were not fully informed about the disease.”
Like many in the first days of the pandemic, he was forced to work without adequate PPE. Lack of regulation and price gouging had also worsened the PPE situation during the early days of the pandemic.
“There was no PPE, no increment, nothing. I had to use what I had at my disposal to protect myself and render a service.
“I went into a Covid ward to save lives, but in the process, exposed myself.”
Mr Koana contracted COVID during the course of his duty, and lost 19 of his colleagues to the disease, with little in the way of support for his trauma. He is also stigmatised in his community, as people assume that he has COVID. He also fears for his wife and two children.
“I am not scared for myself, because as a nurse, I took an oath. I am scared for my children. If I bring the virus home and it kills my wife, who will take care of our children?”
Source: IOL
