Media Release: Environmental Health Practitioners – Garden Route DM’s frontline workers

For Immediate Release
20 May 2020

The Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) Environmental Health Practitioners (EHP) are working in the frontline through communities and workplaces, among others, to promote health and safety protocols that aim to address the spread of COVID-19. The National Health Act 61 of 2003 makes provision for a single national health system that includes EHPs who play a vital role in the management of pandemics.

“The roles and responsibilities of EHPs in response to COVID- 19 is significant and extensive.  EHPs employed at GRDM continue their work as essential workers during this COVID-19 pandemic and they are doing an excellent job in our sub-districts. I take my hat off to all our EHPs who work in the frontline – many of them have families at home who worry about them too and we are grateful for their selfless service, dedication and compassion,” said GRDM Executive Mayor, Cllr Memory Booysen.

Executive Manager Community Services Mr Clive Africa echoed Mayor Booysen’s sentiments and added that the “monitoring of the disinfection of high risk areas is also done by GRDM EHPs. Local municipalities are responsible for the disinfection of  communal and public toilets, taxi ranks and marketplaces, sidewalks, municipal properties, state owned properties, private properties, and camping sites.”

With their usual responsibilities, education by means of awareness programmes and visits to businesses have increased a lot. “GRDM EHPs have increased their education and awareness programmes in a bid to reduce the number of persons that could become exposed to COVID-19,” said Mr Johan Compion, Manager GRDM Municipal Health Services.

“When the risk of COVID-19 became more apparent, EHPs started distributing thousands of pamphlets and posters at shopping malls, supermarkets, food stores, spaza shops and to informal food traders,” Compion said.

Awareness about COVID-19 has been done through promoting proper hand washing techniques, social distancing, cough etiquette, cleaning, sanitising and continual disinfection of frequently touched surfaces.

EHPs also participate daily in the outbreak response teams activated at provincial and district levels by performing a range of activities, including:

• ensure decontamination and disinfection of affected homes
• contact tracing of those infected and their close contacts
• monitoring of the management of the human remains and disposal of the dead
• monitoring of the management of health care waste.

GRDM we would like to again extend a word of gratitude to our EHP essential workers out in the field leading the fight against the COVID-19 disease.

Media Queries
Herman Pieters | Senior Communicator
Garden Route District Municipality
E-mail: communications@gardenroute.gov.za