By Natalie Whiting, staff
South Australian doctors are unhappy with local training and preparations to deal with any Ebola cases, even though the local risk is considered remote.
They claimed the state’s health system would be able to handle just one or two Ebola cases at any time because of the strain it would put on resources.
But the State Government said SA was well-prepared to deal with isolated cases and had just introduced local testing for Ebola, which would ensure timely results and appropriate treatment for patients.
Of four people tested so far in SA for Ebola, all returned negative results.
Health Minister Jack Snelling expressed confidence the health system would be ready if an actual case presented.
“The important thing has been to quickly confirm [results], so that the patient can be appropriately treated,” he said.
“I’m satisfied with the procedures we’ve got in place. Should we have an Ebola presentation, we have two hospitals [prepared].”
Doctors worried about exposed skin
But Dr David Pope of the Salaried Medical Officers Association said local doctors were not as confident as the minister.
He said while the Royal Adelaide Hospital and Adelaide Women’s and Children’s Hospital had been designated to deal with any Ebola patients, the staff at other hospitals were very concerned about the protective equipment they had available.
“There’s great concern about doctors having skin exposed, so the equipment’s that’s being provided to doctors in some hospitals leaves the neck, the head, the hair, their legs, their shoes all completely exposed to whatever bodily fluids might be around,” he said.
“Many are concerned if a case presents to hospitals other than the Royal Adelaide or the Women’s and Children’s.
“Flinders Medical Centre, the Queen Elizabeth, Lyell McEwin are not being provided with much equipment at all and certainly very limited amounts of training.”
Mr Snelling said if a patient presented at another hospital they would immediately be transferred to a designated one.
“My advice is that they [other hospitals] do have the appropriate equipment in order to deal with a presentation and to transfer the patient to an appropriate hospital,” he said.
“Obviously it’s a different level from the sort of training and equipment that would be necessary in order to care for and treat an Ebola presentation, it’s obviously not as high a level.”
Health system already under strain
Adelaide hospitals have struggled with emergency department overcrowding in recent times and Dr Pope fears the state is only up to handling one or two Ebola patients at a time.
“A case presenting at the Royal Adelaide would put that hospital under immense strain. It would mean much of the [regular] work at the Royal Adelaide wouldn’t be able to be done because of the resourcing required to deal with and contain an Ebola case,” he said.
“There’s a huge amount of staff resources and infection control resources that need to be deployed and that would mean that that hospital couldn’t do its routine daily work.
“There’d be patients moved to other facilities for sure, especially intensive care and other high dependency areas.”
Mr Snelling said he did not have figures on how many Ebola patients the state health system could handle simultaneously.
“My advice is in the very unlikely eventuality that there was an Ebola presentation, we would be able to deal with that in the numbers that we’d be looking at,” he said.
Dr Pope agreed with the Minister that the risk remained very low for South Australia.
“The chances of a case turning up to Adelaide in the near future is next to zero, so that is a saving grace, and the message is that we’ve got some time to have proper preparedness in place, and that’s what needs to happen,” he said.
Doctors urged training be provided for as many healthcare workers as possible and that enough protective equipment be on hand.
Dr Pope warned SA could not afford complacency.
“If the outbreak isn’t contained in West Africa, it’s guaranteed that at some point in time we’ll get cases in Australia and in Adelaide,” he said.