There has been much panic and hype about the current Covid 19/ Corona Virus pandemic. A state of national lockdown has been implemented as of 26 March 2020 (0h00) with only essential services allowed to continue operating.

Healthcare practitioners and allied health services have been deemed essential services, therefore allowing us to practice. The South African Society of Physiotherapists (SASP) have given us some guidelines for practice to ensure that we minimise patient contact time and adhere to the principles of social distancing and quarantine, to the best of our ability given the nature of our work.

We have been asked to only treat emergency cases such as:

- Extreme pain (sudden onset)

- Any post-operative patients

- Patients requiring neurological rehabilitation in the acute stage (directly after the injury)

- Any respiratory/ chest patients

This list is not exhaustive, and we encourage you to give us a call (031 560 5556) if you have any queries, or if you would like to know whether you can be treated.

Additionally, we will be implementing telehealth services and will be able to provide our services electronically to our existing patients. The guidelines surrounding telehealth stipulate that a medical professional need to be present on initial evaluation of a patient, thus, we will only be able to provide this service to our existing patients.

We thank you for your support during this trying time. Stay safe, stay at home and ensure that you are washing your hands appropriately.

Kind regards

The Umhlanga Rehab Physiotherapy Team