The Fordsburg Muslim Youth Organisation’s COVID-19 support unit recently opened up a tent at the Helen Joseph Hospital in Johannesburg, to assist those in need of COVID-19 support in South Africa’s third wave epicentre. [Picture: Dr. Zaheer Gaffoor]
JOHANNESBURG – The Fordsburg Muslim Youth Organisation’s COVID-19 support unit recently opened up a tent at the Helen Joseph Hospital in Johannesburg, to assist those in need of COVID-19 support in South Africa’s third wave epicentre.
The facility was set up in memory of FMYO members Asif Ahmod Moolla and Mogamat Sardick Davids. Both of them lost their lives to COVID-19 this year.
The organisation lends oxygen concentrators to people who don’t have access to private health care and rely on government facilities. “When Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital closed, the crippling effect on the rest of the public sector was unexplainable,” Asima Moosa from the FMYO told Salaamedia.
The facility has the support of the Gauteng Department of Health, other organisations such as Muslims for Humanity, NMJ, FMYO, Willowton Group, Investec, Standard Bank, Caring Sisters Network, and individuals Dr. Hussain Pahad, Ismail Mitha and Shoyab Wadee.
“People said to me you’re going into the public sector, you’re never going to get the facility off the ground but we needed to help the people who did not have access to health care,” she said.
According to Moosa, the process started when they met with the CEO of Helen Joseph Hospital, and the tent idea was proposed to them. Knowing what they were going through at the hospital, they were glad to help immediately.
Moosa added thst, with Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital being closed after a fire broke out in April this year, it was easier to get access to staff and beds that they could bring in from the medical side.
“It is really helping the pressure on the emergency department. We went through the first and second wave but I would have never have comprehended what we are going through right now with COVID-19 in Gauteng.”
Inayet Wadee spoke to Asima Moosa from the Fordsburg Muslim Youth Organisation on News & Views. Listen to the full interview here:
