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COVID 19: Community health care volunteers(Bagcugcuteli) banned from visiting sick patients.

Sunday, 17th January, 2021


MBABANE: Dr Simon Zwane, the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Health said Rural Health Motivators (Bagcugcuteli) have been banned from visiting sick patients as part of preventive measures to curb the spread of COVID 19.

Speaking during an interview with this Swaziland News, the Health PS said this group of health care givers were at high risk of contracting the COVID 19 virus due to their door to door visits when helping the sick.

\"When COVID 19 started we realised the risk our Rural Health Motivators and other health workers faced. A good number of them are above 50 years old and some have some underlying illnesses. We then significantly scaled down their movements . We also trained them on the basics of this pandemic; this means that whatever services they were providing prior to the pandemic have been disturbed\", said Zwane.

Jabu Kunene, a supervisor of Rural Health Motivators  in one of the communities in the outskirts of Mbabane said their clients were greatly affected by the new arrangement.

\"Many people relied on our help prior to COVID-19, they would come to us with their illnesses and we would come up with solutions, but now they have to solve most of their problems on their own.We used to provide them with basic medication like panado but now they have to go to the nearest clinic or hospital for help\", she said.

COVID 19: Community health care volunteers(Bagcugcuteli) banned from visiting sick patients.
Health PS Simon Zwane