New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern showed a range of emotions when a reporter asked a question regarding allegations of sexual relations between visitors and patients at the Auckland Hospital.
The reporter had asked if the allegations of a patient and visitor having “sexual relations” at the hospital were considered a “high-risk activity in the current climate”, according to The Guardian.
Often keeping her cool during press conferences, the question left Ardern perplexed as she struggled to contain her expressions which shifted from being distraught to exasperated and finally, to bemusement.
Director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield responded, “I think it is a high-risk activity, potentially. However, I don’t know any of the details about that interaction.”
Ardern then responded, “I would say, generally, regardless of the Covid status, that kind of thing shouldn’t generally be part of visiting hours, I would have thought.”
According to 1News, it was alleged that a woman had visited a patient at Auckland Hospital last week and disappeared behind the curtains, much to the horror of other patients in the ward.
“Five o’clock, this young lady came in and disappeared behind the curtains and it was pretty obvious what was happening in there,” Kevin, one of the patients said.
“There were four people in the ward and it was all just a bit staggering, all very embarrassing.”
Staff were quickly alerted to the situation and intervened the visitor and the patient.
Kevin expressed concern about the number of visitors that come to his ward, claiming that about 60 people have visited each day during the three days he was there.
Meanwhile, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) has criticised the Auckland District Health Board (DHB) for allowing hundreds of visitors at hospitals, despite the Delta variant outbreak, reported RNZ.
“It’s actually causing people to break their level 4 alert bubbles, so there’s just so many reasons that this is not a good decision and it’s putting patients and staff at risk by having such a free policy,” NZNO acting nursing and professional services manager Kate Weston said.
“The majority of hospitals in the region and around the country are limiting their visiting to really strict compassionate grounds, which is understandable because obviously people in those situations do need to be able to provide support to your loved ones … but to have more than one visitor at a time is a real problem.”
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