Issued by: Gauteng Provincial Government
2 January 1998
HEAVY DEMAND FOR EMERGENCY CARE OVER NEW YEAR
Gauteng hospitals provided emergency medical care for thousands of people in the last hours of 1997 and the first day of the new year. Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto saw 715 in its casualty department from 7h00 on December 31 to 7h00 this morning.
The activities of several of the province's busiest hospitals are reflect in the table below.
HOSPITAL PATIENTS SEEN AT CASUALTY % OF CASUALTY
Health services throughout the province were adequately staffed for the predictable New Year run on casualty departments. No hospital in Gauteng was placed under such heavy demand that it was forced to close its doors to further admissions.
Johannesburg Hospital casualty units dealt with about the same numbers as at the peak of the Christmas period. The situation was, however, well managed. Despite the heavy pressure of the holiday period, surgeons at Johannesburg were able to perform an extremely intricate 14-hour operation on New Year's Day to re-attach four fingers of a patient who had accidentally severed them.
In central Johannesburg, the major problem on New Year's Eve arose from the targeting of emergency medical services by sections of the Hillbrow community. Emergency service workers had to run the gauntlet of missiles hurled from buildings in order to reach people who were injured or seriously ill. Ambulances were actually called out on false alarms, only to face a hail of stones and other objects at their destination. At least one member of an ambulance crew was injured. We are forced to conclude that we are not witnessing an unintended consequence of revelry, but deliberate anti-social action which threatens the community's access to health care.
The down-side of careless celebration was evident in many casualty departments. Apart from motor vehicle accidents and assaults in which alcohol played a part and injuries from fire crackers, health workers at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital saw youngsters who were shot when firearms were used recklessly apparently to augment the effect of fire crackers.
Jo-Anne Collinge Director for Health Promotion & Communications
Telephone: 082 574 5510