Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality unveiled a fleet of new service vehicles which includes 48 ambulances, nine paramedic response cars and nine fire fighting vehicles to boost emergency services in the City.
Gauteng MEC for Health and Social Development Hope Papo commended the City for taking the initiative to purchase ambulances which complement the service provided by provincial government.
“We thank you for taking it upon yourselves to improve health services in your City. As Gauteng Department of Health, we will also be allocating a couple of obstetric ambulances to all municipalities in the province, which will cater only for women giving birth,” said Papo, as he spoke at the event held at the Sam Ntuli Stadium in Thokoza.
City of Ekurhuleni has taken this step to alleviate delays in service delivery due to constraints presented by ageing vehicles. It has thus procured over 600 vehicles within its 2012/2013 financial year to the tune of R214 million.
This is part of a promise mayor Gungubele made to residents earlier this year during his State of the City Address when he promised to turn things around where service delivery is concerned.
Gungubele indicated that beyond getting a new fleet the municipality has also zoomed into its emergency call taking centre which has been the subject of public outcries recently.
“The Call Centre remains the most critical priority for the metro hence we have invested approximately R20 million to upgrade the facility, a project which will be completed by end of this month. Furthermore within the next few weeks we will be advertising an additional 200 posts for call takers.”
The intervention means that the centre will be able to accommodate 50 additional call centre agents on a four-shift system instead of the current 12 agents.
Thokoza Gardens resident, Mandla Radebe, is impressed by the City’s efforts but thinks more still needs to be done.
“As a resident of Thokoza, I am happy, but will be satisfied when there are enough ambulances to attend to all emergencies and people do not have to wait long for one to arrive,” Radebe said.
“I was not aware that there are services provided by mobile clinics and think that they are a great idea because they are an alternative for residents who have to travel a long distance to the clinic,” said Maleshoane Thejane.
Security services in Ekurhuleni also received an injection of 120 Metro Police cars which have been allocated to the SWAT, dog, security, public order policing, community liaison, by-law enforcement units and all EMPD precincts in the City.
The added boost comes after the city has had to deal with a shortage in security vehicles for a considerable period of time.
Other departments which displayed their new vehicles today include Waste Management Services, Water Services and Transport. Please see attachment for a list all new vehicles.
