Massive shortage of ambulances in the West Rand
"It is unfortunate that we have such challenges however in all honesty we do not receive much assistance from the province and we are in need of help."
The Herald has learned that of the 19 ambulances deployed in the West Rand, only seven are operational.
Of this seven, two ambulances are allocated to Randfontein while another two service Westonaria.
Krugersdorp only has three ambulances that are operational.
According to West Rand District Municipality spokesperson Dennis Mangope, it is unfortunate that this is the case but the district is doing the best that they can with the little that they have.
“We only have three stations rendering emergency services and that is the Randfontein, Westonaria and Krugersdorp.
“It is unfortunate that we have such challenges however in all honesty we do not receive much assistance from the province and we are in need of help.
“We have a shortage of resources in general,” says Mangope.
Asked on the issue of late arrival to emergency scenes, Mangope says that it is bound to happen considering the limited resources that they have to make do with.
“Our normal response time to incidents is 15 minutes depending on how far from the emergency services station the incident occurs.
“Sometimes when we have an exceptionally busy time, or when the incident occurs far away, it does take considerably longer.
“This places us in a difficult situation, however, we rely on other emergency services who are always jumping in to assist.
“Our relationship with ER24 and Netcare 911 is of such a nature that they often help us out.”
Mangope has admitted that without the help of private emergency services, they would be in serious trouble with regards to response times and possible legal issues stemming from that.
