Shortage of ambulances
Only half of the health department’s ambulances in the Chris Hani district are operational.
Health department spokesperson Lwandile Sicwetsha confirmed this week that out of 64 ambulances based in the district, only 32 were working. The Daily Dispatch recently reported that 122 government vehicles, including some ambulances, were not working in the province.
Sicwetsha said national standards dictated there should be one ambulance per 10,000 people.
“We are far below the required 690 ambulances based on the Eastern Cape population of 6,9 million. In addition, the rural terrain in the province tends to shorten the lifespan of the ambulances due to bad roads.”
Sicwetsha said there were many factors that led to delays in the delivery of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to communities, but the department was trying to address the shortage of ambulances and to improve the skills of staff.
Frontier Hospital was being serviced by EMS in the Enoch Mgijima sub-district, Cathcart Hospital formed part of the Amathole District and was serviced by the EMS station in Cathcart while the Whittlesea (Hewu) Hospital and Glen Grey Hospital near Cacadu were serviced by EMS in the Chris Hani district.
Chief among the department's plans was to address the recent ambulance personnel attacks in the province. The Chris Hani district EMS staff had reported no attacks to date. “The department is in the process of engaging the department of transport, the department of community safety and liaison, and municipal councillors to improve the safety of EMS crews.”
This included installing tracking devices on EMS vehicles and exploring the addition of dashboard cameras linked to the control rooms.
“The police will escort EMS crews when responding to calls in some of the high risk areas.”
The matter would also be raised in community meetings with a call for residents to report perpetrators of such attacks.
“There are obviously criminal elements behind these attacks. We cannot isolate any cause behind the attacks at this stage until the police complete their investigation.”