One in three ambulances not working

Health professionals desperate as shocking figures show extent of crisis

ABOUT one in three of the Eastern Cape’s ambulances is out of order at present, the Department of Health confirmed at the weekend.

Spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said of a total of 416 ambulances, 151 were out of order.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said in an answer to the national legislature on May 25 that 50% of provincial ambulances were not in a working condition.

Of the ambulances at standalone state Emergency Medical Services bases in the province, 139 out of 277 were out of commission, Motsoaledi said.

Ntsiki Mpulo, of watchdog body Section 27, said health professionals in the Eastern Cape had raised the alarm over the lack of ambulances and patient transport vehicles and had said they believed members of the service were on strike.

“A number of health professionals have contacted the Eastern Cape Health Crisis Action Coalition in desperation as they have been unable to transfer patients in need of urgent medical care,” Mpulo said.

“Some patients are forced to hire taxis at prices they cannot afford to take them to the hospital, or forfeit their hospital visit, with dire longterm consequences to their health.

“Both health professionals and patients have spent countless hours on the phone to Emergency Medical Services call-centres only to be told that no ambulances are available,” she said.

“The coalition has written to the new [Eastern Cape] MEC for health, Helen Sauls-August, with a request that she investigates the lack of ambulance availability at the affected healthcare facilities, but she has not responded.”

Mpulo said the affected areas included Alice, Bedford, Butterworth, Cathcart, East London, Fort Beaufort, Keiskammahoek, Mdantsane and Peddie.

“Health professionals are becoming desperate as they must constantly work under crisis conditions to mitigate the lack of public ambulances,” she said.

“We appeal to those involved in the ‘strike’ to allow ambulances transporting critical patients to operate.

“We call on the provincial and national health departments to urgently intervene before any more lives are lost.”

There have been ongoing concerns over attacks on ambulances in the province, with the portfolio committee on health calling for a report by June 19 on plans for improved safety measures such as fitting vehicles with tracking devices and providing its staff with automated distress signal systems.

Kupelo said Emergency Medical Services workers were not allowed to strike.

But the department had been informed that emergency personnel in the Buffalo City and Amathole district were on a go-slow, refusing to attend to calls without police back-up.

He said that, at this stage, the go-slow had not spread to Nelson Mandela Bay or to the Sarah Baartman district.