Health services hampered by severe shortage of ambulances
The DA in Mpumalanga is concerned that the Provincial Department of Health has only 168 Ambulances for a population of 4,7 million.
“This is troublingly far below to recommendations of the Emergency Medical Norms and Standards,” Jane Sithole, MPL – DA Spokesperson on Health: Mpumalanga, said in a statement.
According to the Emergency Medical Norms and Standards, there must be one ambulance per 10 000 people, which means that ideally Mpumalanga should have 474 fully operational ambulances.
What really concerns the DA is that: out of the measly 168 ambulances reported to be in the province, only 72 operate daily and 96 are non-operational due to staff shortages, breakdowns, accidents, and lack of maintenance.
According to the Provincial Department of Health’s own second quarter report, there were 26 313 public requests for an ambulance in that quarter. It has also been reported that – due to motor vehicle accidents, pedestrian accidents, gunshots, assaults and medical related assaults, 928 patients had passed away by the time the ambulance arrived.
Although the department says no patient had passed away inside an ambulance, nowhere is it reported or mentioned how many patients passed away while waiting for an ambulance.
The department says they met their target of an ambulance response in under 30 minutes in urban areas and under 60 minutes in rural areas, the DA however questions if these targets were reached and requires clarity on the following:
•“Was it for all 26 313 ambulance requests or just of those that were responded to?
•“If so, how many was actually responded to?”
“While we continue to blame patients and everything under the sun, people die while waiting for an ambulance in this province. The departments second quarterly report clearly shows that Mpumalanga needs an Emergency Medical Services department that works and saves lives and not one that just looks good on paper.
“The DA calls on the provincial department of health to reach the recommendations of the Emergency Medical Norms and Standards of one ambulance per 10 000 people in the province.
“Our people need an Emergency Medical Service (EMS) department that works and saves lives, and not one that looks good on paper.”
