Results
A total of 1486 hospital inpatients (1166 adults ≥18 years and 320
children < 18 years) were surveyed in seven hospitals in Cape
Town, South Africa during the study period (Figure 1, Table 1,
Table 2) . Of these, 52.8% were female with a median age of 40 years
(IQR 25;60). Overall, 48 (3.2%) patients self-reported a BLA with a
significantly higher rate of self-reported BLA in the privately-funded
hospitals as compared to the government-funded hospitals (2.8% vs 6.3%
respectively, p=0.014). None of the facilities had 100% bed capacity at
the time of the surveys (GSH=721/893 80.7%; RXH= 189/300 63%; VWH
107/206 51.9%; NSH 200/330 60.6%, MPDH 95/200 47.5%, CBH 129/248
52%, UCTPAH 45/124 36.3%), six of the seven surveys occurred between
March 2021 and July 2021. The decreased bed occupancy in these
facilities was likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and decreased
utilization of nonurgent clinical services.