The DA is saddened by the death of a high school learner who reportedly waited for between three and four hours for an ambulance to arrive after he was stabbed in the heart in Lerato Park, Kimberley, over the weekend.

This comes only days after a similar incident occurred in the Kuruman area, whereby I personally had to contact the senior official responsible for ambulances services, in order to secure emergency assistance for a patient.

The prolonged waiting time for the ambulance marks a drastic decline in performance by the Northern Cape Health Department’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS).  In fact, even the department has conceded that it is experiencing a downfall with ambulance coverage due to breakdowns and motor vehicle accidents.

The department is especially failing to respond to emergencies in urban areas within the required 15 minutes. According to the department, this is due to increased calls versus operational ambulances.

This is particularly worrying considering that in September last year the department welcomed an additional 110 ambulances to its fleet, making a big hullabaloo regarding the positive impact the additional vehicles would have on service delivery. 

It is understandable that vehicles need constant upkeep but how can it be that, after huge investments towards the ambulance fleet, the EMS programme is now doing worse than before?

Other than response times, the DA is also concerned about the quality of EMS services being delivered. This, as the implementation of the two-crew system has decreased from 54% implementation rate in April last year, to only 46% implementation rate in March this year. This means that as many as 54% of operational ambulances are functioning with only a driver. In other words, most of our ambulances have become a mere taxi service, unable to render life-saving medical care.

On top of this, the province continues to struggle with a lack of proper control centres, with the operationalization of the Kimberley and Upington control centres being largely dependent on budget. 

The DA is dismayed by the worsening state of EMS in the province. It has really been a case of one step forward, two steps back.

It appears that the department is unable to properly manage its ambulance fleet and its budget.

The department needs to be more efficient in terms of maintaining its emergency vehicles, as well as exercise better control over its ambulances to prevent accidents. It also needs a practical and ongoing replacement plan for vehicles that have accumulated more than 300 000 kilometers.

Delays in getting the EMS Training College up and running also need to be speedily dealt with.

Until then, EMS will continue to be in need of saving at the very cost of lives of the people of the Northern Cape.

Issued by the DA