The new alcohol ban announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa has understandably resulted in many emotionally charged responses.
On the one hand, excessive and dangerous alcohol consumption is resulting in trauma that is impacting our hospitals at a time when the country must ensure Covid-19 patients receive care.
On the other hand, the ban is likely to result in a major economic impact and severe job losses in a second, equally dangerous "unemployment pandemic".
These two seem like the opposite ends of a see-saw - you cannot change one without having a significant impact on the other side.
Across the country, Covid-19 infections are rising. As the first province to experience a rapid increase in cases, we know how vital it is to ensure we have those beds in place - especially in our ICUs and high care units. Removing alcohol from the equation can have an almost immediate impact in freeing up beds in our healthcare system.
But a sustained, long-term ban is a blunt instrument that does not address the root problems and will not solve the alcohol problem that this country faces.
We must also find evidence-led and long-term solutions for these problematic behaviours that are so prevalent in South Africa and which impact on crime, violence, addiction, and our healthcare systems.
Trauma reports
The Western Cape Department of Health has prepared reports which track trauma admissions to five hospitals in the province, comparing admissions before the alcohol ban, during the alcohol ban, and after the alcohol ban was lifted again.
These reports show a significant decrease in people presenting to our hospitals for trauma during the alcohol ban, and a significant rise in the numbers again after the ban was lifted on 1 June.
The ban on alcohol effectively reduced trauma presentations to these hospitals by between 40 and 50%.
Before the ban, the province would consistently report weekend spikes of about 140 to 160 trauma cases, with a daily average of about 89.
Without alcohol, weekend spikes dropped to about 60 to 80 cases and a daily average of 46. Immediately after the ban was lifted, the daily average spiked to 81 cases per day.
If we look at some of the reasons for trauma presentations to hospitals, we see similar trends.
In the two months before the alcohol ban, 974 people were brought to our five hospitals for stabbings, 389 for motor vehicle accident injuries, 35 for sexual assault, and 20 for gender-based violence.
For the two months during the alcohol ban, those same hospitals received 360 stabbing, 125 motor vehicle accident, 17 sexual offences and four gender-based violence cases.
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