A CRITICAL ambulance shortage at Wentworth Hospital is putting lives at risk, with more than 10 emergency vehicles lying unused in the hospital yard due to mechanical issues and delayed repairs.

Patients in urgent need of emergency care are facing dangerous delays, as ambulances are either unavailable or arrive long after being called.

André de Bruin, a community representative and member of the Wentworth Hospital Committee, voiced deep concern over the situation.

“This doesn’t only affect the Wentworth community, it’s impacting residents from The Bluff, Merebank, and other surrounding areas. Many people don’t have access to private medical aid or ambulance services. People have lost faith in the government’s emergency medical response. In emergencies, families are now forced to hire private vehicles to rush loved ones to the hospital,” said De Bruin.

“When people call for an ambulance, it can take over two hours to arrive or it never comes. This is not the community’s responsibility to fix. The Department of Health should have intervened long ago. Allowing emergency vehicles to deteriorate to this point is unacceptable,” he added.

Dr Imraan Keeka, KZN chairperson of the health portfolio committee, acknowledged the broader problem across the province.

“There is indeed a shortage of ambulances in KZN, but the department is doing its best under the circumstances. The province currently has about 480 ambulances, but not all of them are operational. Some are allocated to inter-facility transport between hospitals like RK Khan and Clairwood,” he said.

Keeka warned residents not to misuse the ambulance service

Keeka also mentioned that the committee has asked the Health Department to prioritise ambulance services in the upcoming budget, and has proposed public-private partnerships to increase emergency vehicle availability. However, he noted concerns about misuse of the ambulance service.

“Unfortunately, there are instances where people call ambulances for non-emergencies, which adds strain to an already overstretched system,” Keeka said.

However, De Bruin strongly rejected the claim of misuse by the community.

“Dr Keeka must not accuse the public of misusing services. There is no such thing as abuse when it comes to basic healthcare rights. Whether a patient is critically ill or not, the government has a duty to provide emergency medical services. This isn’t a political issue, it’s a matter of life and death,” he said.

He pointed to multiple incidents where patients allegedly died waiting for ambulances, with family members now expressing their outrage and grief across social media platforms.

“There are too many cases where people didn’t make it because help came too late. That’s why many in our community have resorted to using e-hailing services. They no longer trust the public ambulance system,” said De Bruin.

Questions were sent to the KZN Department of Health, but no response was received at the time of publishing.

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