Public and private emergency services join hands for the benefit of patients
The MEC of the Department of Health, Dr Phopi Ramathuba said the lives of patients must be put first in all circumstances and that there cannot be squabbles as to who will transport patients to what hospital, or who will not attend to certain patients because they do not have medical aid.
POLOKWANE – The MEC of the Department of Health, Dr Phopi Ramathuba and senior management members met with emergency health services personnel of private emergency services throughout the province last week.
This meeting was necessitated by the need to lay down certain ground rules for the relationship between public and private emergency services, such as what procedures are to be followed in case of an accident and to act first and foremost in the interest of the patients.
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Ramathuba said the lives of patients must be put first in all circumstances and that there cannot be squabbles as to who will transport patients to what hospital, or who will not attend to certain patients because they do not have medical aid. She said in case of a disaster all services should respond in order to save lives, irrespective if patients have money or not. “Time is of the essence when an accident happens, and no time could be wasted by arguing about who is to take the patient to hospital, a life could be lost in the process.”
She said she was at an accident scene where she insisted that the private paramedic give her their equipment to help patients. She later found out that the person whose life she saved was actually an employee of the department. “It may be your child one day,” she said. One must attend to emergencies. We need to be professional and provide ethical services.”
She further said people not coming from the health sector sometimes run emergency services, and may only be interested in doing business and making money. She said she was hesitant to allow people who do not understand the sector to run such services and things can’t keep on happening as it has in the past. She said a lot of collaboration and meetings still need to take place and at the next session collaboration will be talked about.
Private emergency service had time to ask questions, and said the system frustrated them, as they sometimes must use their own fuel and time to transport patients, while some have not yet been paid since they were asked to assist when public emergency personnel were striking about two years ago. They asked that regular meetings be held and their personnel be allowed to train at the local college. They also needed updates on how far the department was with the updating of their application for the renewal of their licences. Ramathuba said certain areas, such as Polokwane, were saturated with sufficient emergency services operation locally. It was concluded that the first or nearest available resource should be used for assisting at primary calls. Ramathuba agreed that private emergency services should be given priority to assist at events, as people do not pay the public service, and they often ask for exemption. She said private emergency services could be accommodated at departmental colleges, but not for free, as they would save on fuel and toll costs to Gauteng. The department will charge a minimum fee to train them.
A forum will be established to take the discussions further.
