Staff shortage leaves 122 ambulances unused

The Mpumalanga department of health has come under fire for not using 122 ambulances due to a shortage of staff.

The unions and political parties have slammed the department after the portfolio committee on health recently revealed the department has 194 ambulances, but only 72 are in service.

Flip van der Walt, provincial leader of the Public Servants Association of South Africa, slated health MEC Sasekani Manzini.

Only 72 ambulances in service

“The officials seem unable to manage the department in line with the Public Finance Management Act,” said Van der Walt.

“Why do you procure 194 ambulances while you know that you only have 72 possible drivers? We all know when vehicles are not operational and standing, it is then that vehicles get damaged.”

According to the emergency medical norms and standards, there must be one ambulance per 10 000 people, which means that ideally, Mpumalanga should have at least 480 fully operational ambulances.

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“At 72 ambulances for a population of five million, it means Mpumalanga has one ambulance for 69 000 people,” said Bosman Grobler, DA spokesperson on health in the Mpumalanga.

“This cannot be acceptable and it is against the emergency medical norms and standards. It is concerning that the shortage and late arrival of ambulances when summoned has become a normality,” said Grobler.

“This is especially true when taking into consideration that the South African national norms and standards recommend EMS [Emergency Medical Services] response time of 15 minutes in urban areas and 40 minutes for rural areas.”

Prioritise employing more EMS

He urged Manzini to rather prioritise employing more EMS personnel to operate the 122 ambulances standing idle, instead of relaunching the 2021-22 Impilo citizen engagement platform application.

He said the app, which has “failed dismally”, was procured in 2021-22 with Vodacom on a twoyear contract worth R33.4 million.

“It was initially aimed at helping the department address the effective management of their EMS resources in terms of call taking and call dispatching,” said Grobler.

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“The app was also meant to help communities register their concerns and complaints experienced during emergencies.

“But the department abandoned the app in 2023 when the contract with Vodacom lapsed – partly because they realised the majority of residents who rely on public health did not have access to the app as it required a smartphone and data to even access it.”

He said they were concerned that the department was on the verge of relaunching the app in September at a cost of R750 000, a monthly operational cost of between R50 000 and R100 000.

Concern about app relaunch

He added the DA would engage Manzini to propose she consider employing more EMS personnel to operate ambulances, instead of spending millions more on an app that did not serve its purpose in the past.

Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) provincial secretary Cyril Mdluli has also expressed concern.

“We are concerned about the severe and chronic shortage that the department has on EMS personnel, especially since this shortage on EMS relates directly to nursing,” said Mdluli.

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“This shortage has resulted in many incidents where patients will wait for long at primary health care after being referred to hospital for further management, which might result in some complications.”

He also called on the department to employ more EMS personnel not only with basic qualifications, but also with advanced qualifications that can be able to manage patients’ conditions inside ambulances.

“As Denosa we have advised our members to stop escorting patients as their work is in the clinic or hospital and not in an ambulance,” he said.

Dept must speed up EMS college

Mdluli said the department must speed up an EMS college in the province that will accommodate the current staff members to upskill them on advanced courses as per the Skills Development Act. He said the province currently has few of them and the majority of personnel have basic life support.

Mpumalanga department of health spokesperson Dumisani Malamule had not responded to questions by the time of publication.

In a recent article by IOL, South African Emergency Personnel’s Union president Mpho Mpogeng said Mpumalanga is one of the provinces facing a huge shortage of ambulances.

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Meanwhile, it is also alleged that in Limpopo there is a shortage of qualified ambulance crew, but health department spokesperson Neil Shikwana dismissed the claim.

Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi conceded in parliament that there was a shortage of ambulance personnel. He said the government was addressing the matter.