Emergency Medical Services (EMS) vehicles, Bophelo House
11 September 2006
Ladies and gentlemen
Department of Health allocated R14 million for Emergency Medical Services
Capital Infrastructure and essential basic equipment.
Our Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is the first line of the Healthcare
System; the referral system that we all rely upon is supported by EMS. Victims
of trauma from shootings, motor vehicle collisions, assaults, violence and also
the many patients from our communities, those who suffer from the myriad of
acute illnesses such as strokes, asthma and cardiac emergencies, and maternity
cases depend on our EMS and would be compromised in the absence of the EMS.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are working towards an effective and efficient EMS
in this province. We are all aware of the many challenges that face us with
regard to this service and I need just to mention a few that we know of or have
experienced ourselves:
* non purpose-built vehicles
* roads and streets that are in a state of disrepair
* malicious false calls from the communities resulting in delaying genuine
emergency calls
* hijacking and stealing of ambulances
* communities that perpetuates wrongdoing in requesting âliftsâ in
ambulances
* ill-discipline in some of our personnel
* incompetent and reckless drivers
* merchants that knowingly engage in fraudulent activities together with our
personnel
* weak management structures
The department reminds you that EMS is a mobile institution. One of its
major resources besides the communication centres, rescue and rapid response
vehicles, is ambulances.
The management of this service is currently addressing some of the
challenges that I have mentioned earlier. All vehicles purchased are fitted
with the state of the art tracking and monitoring systems. This has resulted in
reducing the number of unauthorised trips, tampering with the vehicles parts
especially the battery, and excessive idling where vehicles were used for
heaters during the winter months by the crews. We are now in the process of
upgrading the facilities of our crews. I can also report to you that personnel
were subjected to disciplinary processes and dismissed with the assistance of
these systems.
Our success is hindered by the lack of functional communications centres
that will enable the dispatchers to locate the closest units to any incident
and directing them there to assist. We will continue to engage other
stakeholders responsible for this crucial element of EMS to speed up the
processes of securing these facilities. In the meantime, management will
continue seeking ways to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of this
service to meet the national standards of responding to emergency calls within
15 and 40 minutes in the urban areas and rural areas respectively.
I have directed management to work on the transformation of EMS. The
recommendations of the EMS summit that took place in August last year are being
implemented so that we gear our EMS to overcome our current challenges and
prepare it to be ready for the coming 2010 FFIFA World Cup event in our
country. As we all know that the Mangaung Local Municipality will be hosting
some of the matches and as such we would not like to fail this country by not
being prepared.
Speaking of the 2010 FIFA World Cup soccer event, ladies and gentlemen, our
province together with the rest of the country have submitted comprehensive
business plans to the national Departments of Health and Treasury detailing our
requirements for the successful building of capacities and capabilities for an
efficient and effective Emergency Medical Services. We await eagerly the
favourable response so that we are ready and prepared for the event.
Since the Department of Health took the responsibility of running Emergency
Medical Services, we had to distribute resources so that the previously
neglected areas received similar services. We are bound by the constitution of
the country to render services to all the citizens and visitors to our country
irrespective of their status of affording the services.
The 52 new ambulances that are being distributed today were purchased from
Volkswagen Southern Africa, 37 were converted by Ambuclin industries and the
remainder by Ambucare Industries and I would like to acknowledge the presence
of representatives from these companies this afternoon. The cost of these
vehicles amounts to R15 million.
These ambulances will not add to the fleet but will replace those that have
been:
* written off in collisions
* stolen
* those with high kilometres and no longer economical to repair.
And as such the new ambulances will not increase the fleet but will
alleviate the shortage in other areas that need capacity urgently.
Programme Director, ladies and gentlemen
Allow me to take this opportunity to congratulate and thank the members of our
EMS teams for the work they perform. I urge them to encourage heir colleagues
to serve with commitment and dedication. As government we are committed to
improving the quality of service. I wish to call upon our communities to
support our EMS personnel and appreciate the demands of their work.
The distribution will be as follows:
Region: Eastern Free State
District: Thabo Mofutsanyana
Station:
Bethlehem x1 (GHB 625 FS)
Fouriesburg x1 (GHB 588 FS)
Harrismith x2 (GHB 589 FS; GHB 626 FS)
Lindley x1 (GHB 590 FS)
Marquard x1 (GHB 591 FS)
Qwa Qwa x2 (GHB 592 FS; GHB 627 FS)
Reitz x1 (GHB 593 FS)
Senekal x1 (GHB 594 FS)
Warden x1 (GHB 595 FS)
Current status: 35
Total new ambulances: 11
Region: Northern Free State
District: Fezile Dabi
Station:
Frankfort x1 (GHB 596 FS)
Heilbron x1 (GHB 597 FS)
Koppies x2 (GHB 598 FS; GHB 628 FS)
Kroonstad x1 (GHB 629 FS)
Parys x1 (GHB 599 FS)
Sasolburg x2 (GHB 600 FS; GHB 631 FS)
Viljoenskroon x1 (GHB 601 FS)
Villiers x1 (GHB 602 FS)
Current status: 24
Total new ambulances: 10
District: Lejweleputswa
Station:
Boshoff x1 (GHB 603 FS)
Bothaville x1 (GHB 604 FS)
Brandfort x1 (GHB 605 FS)
Dealesville x1 (GHB 606 FS)
Hoopstad x1 (GHB 607 FS)
Odendaalsrus x1 (GHB 632 FS)
Ventersburg x1 (GHB 608 FS)
Virginia x1 (GHB 609 FS)
Welkom x2 (GHB 610 FS; GHB 633 FS)
Winburg x1 (GHB 634 FS)
Current status: 26
Total new ambulances: 11
Region: Southern Free State
District: Motheo
Station:
Bloemfontein x2 (GHB 635 FS; GHB 636 FS)
Botshabelo x1 (GHB 611 FS)
Ladybrand x1 (GHB 612 FS)
Thaba Nchu x1 (GHB 637 FS)
Wepener x1 (GHB 613 FS)
Current status: 31
Total new ambulances: 6
District: Xhariep
Station:
Bethulie x1 (GHB 614 FS)
Edenburg x1 (GHB 615 FS)
Gariep Dam x1 (GHB 616 FS)
Jacobsdal x1 (GHB 617 FS)
Jaggersfontein x1 (GHB 618 FS)
Koffiefontein x1 (GHB 619 FS)
Petrusburg x1 (GHB 620 FS)
Phillipolis x1 (GHB 621 FS)
Reddesburg x1 (GHB 622 FS)
Rouxville x1 (GHB 623 FS)
Smithfield x1 (GHB 624 FS)
Springfontein x1 (GHB 630 FS)
Trompsburg x 1 (GHB 638 FS)
Zastron x1 (GHB 639 FS)
Current status: 22
Total new ambulances: 14
Enquiries:
Mrs Elke de Witt
Cell: 083 561 6517
Issued by: Department of Health, Free State Provincial Government
11 September 2006
