season
13 December 2007
The Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, announced that R280
million has been allocated by the National Department of Health to assist all
provinces to improve emergency medical services (EMS). The allocation is in
addition to normal annual allocation by provincial health departments for EMS
from their equitable share.
Minister Tshabalala-Msimang was speaking at the launch of a new Emergency
Medical Service Centre at Bela-Bela in Limpopo today. She was accompanied by
Limpopo MEC for Health Seaparo Sekoati and Transport MEC Justice Pitso. The
station is one of the 11 that are being built to improve efficiency of the EMS
in the province.
More than 900 EMS vehicles have already been procured in all nine provinces
during this financial year using the additional R280 million. These vehicles
include 715 ambulances, 78 response vehicles, 37 rescue and 79 support
vehicles. "We know that some patients have had to wait for a relatively long
time before emergency services become available to respond to their call.
Therefore, the procurement of these vehicles should assist us to improve
response times across the country and provide resources in areas where services
were non-existent or out of reach," said Minister Tshabalala-Msimang.
Minister Tshabalala-Msimang said procurement of the vehicles has come at the
right time as the demand for EMS increases significantly during the holiday
season. Approximately 2,7 million calls were received and responded to by EMS
countrywide over the past financial year. Minister said many of the calls that
EMS attend involves the use of alcohol and other substance and urged the public
to exercise caution during this festive season to reduce the number of
fatalities.
"The new emergency vehicles will be placed at strategic points on major
routes across our country during this festive season. This will be done to
ensure quick response to major accidents and to raise awareness amongst
commuters that these services are just a phone call away when needed," said
Minister Tshabalala-Msimang.
She thanked EMS staff and other health workers who will be working during
the holiday season for sacrificing time with their families to ensure that
health services are able to respond to cases of trauma and other patients who
need care during this period.
Enquiries:
Sibani Mngadi
Cell: 082 772 0161
Charity Bhengu
Cell: 083 679 7424
Issued by: Department of Health
13 December 2007
Source: Department of Health (http://www.doh.gov.za)
