More security for ambulance staff

Panic buttons after robberies hit drivers on the road

PANIC buttons will be installed in all Eastern Cape health department ambulances after drivers on the job were robbed in Nelson Mandela Bay of ambulances in the last two months.

Health department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said the panic buttons would be installed as part of a new tracking device programme.

Kupelo said despite a significant improvement in the number of available vehicles, the service still suffered due to the ill discipline of some call centre officials.

“But we have fitted all our ambulances with tracking devices so we can now see very accurately what is going on,” he said.

He was referring to a South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) report that found that Eastern Cape ambulance services were in a critical condition as only 180 of its fleet of 416 are operational to cater for 6.5-million people.

The SAHRC report, Access to Emergency Medical Services in the Eastern Cape, followed public hearings the SAHRC held in areas such as O R Tambo district, Alfred Nzo, Buffalo City Metro and Butterworth in 2013.

Kupelo said that since the SAHRC investigation the capacity of the department to respond to emergencies had been boosted by an additional 178 ambulances and three air ambulances in the province.

“The helicopter service is doing very well,” Kupelo said. “We are even flying patients to private hospitals and claiming from medical aids,” he said.

Kupelo said it was disturbing the SAHRC report did not reflect the efforts of the department to address the issues.

“We are busy building several call centres in villages in Transkei and we employ local people. In the past year we have employed 720 people in the EMS service.

He said the report also ignored the abuse of patient transport vehicles by the public.

He also said they had constant problems with patients, who get transport because they have chronic health issues.

“They use patient transport to go shopping,” he said.

Kupelo said one of the biggest problems they still faced was badly marked streets and houses.

SAHRC commissioner Pregs Govender said the poor state of the road network definitely hampered the ability of the department.

“The commission recognises that substantial investment has been made in improving the state of emergency medical services ….

“However, inconsistent planning and reporting mechanisms, combined with inaccurate data recording and information management negatively impact on the ability of the department.” — ellise@timesmedia.