Premier Chupu Mathabatha to hand over 60 ambulances to Limpopo Hospitals and laundry equipment to Sekororo Hospital
The Premier of Limpopo Mr. Chupu Stanley Mathabatha together with Health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba will hand over 60 brand new ambulances, fully equipped laundry to Sekororo Hospital plus four forensic vehicles as part of the 100 acquired by the Department of Health.
The arrival of the new fleet will ease the burden of the shortage of Emergency Medical Services vehicles as a result of the ageing existing fleets. The acquisition of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) vehicles is a constant exercise to ensure that the province eventually meets the national EMS norms regarding the response time of 15 minutes in urban areas and 40 minutes in rural areas.
Limpopo is largely rural and the attainment of these ambulances will certainly sidestep the challenges faced by our people even those at the far-flung areas of our province. The province has made an assurance during the departmental Budget Speech earlier this year to prioritise the procurement of ambulances so that the people of Limpopo benefit from these services and their quality of health is improved.
This is the first batch of the ambulances acquired and the rest will be delivered later to complete the number of 100, as committed during the budget speech delivery of the 2015/16 departmental budget vote. Some of these ambulances will be converted to obstetrics vehicles to ensure that pregnant women are safely transported to the nearest facilities and lives are saved.
The arrival of these ambulances will certainly have a positive impact in the lives of the people of Limpopo and lessen the challenges experienced by communities regarding emergency medical services.
The consignment will be shared amongst all the five provincial districts.
A fully equipped laundry will also be unveiled at Sekororo Hospital to deal with some of the laundry challenges experienced in the past. The in-house laundry will help to creat job for the people. The equipment will assist Sekororo Hospital to have hygiene cloths and linen for patients.
The event will take place as follows:
Date: 25 August 2015
Venue: Sekororo Hospital, Maruleng Municipality
Time: 10h00
Media is invited to join the Premier and MEC during this occasion.
Enquiries:
Mr Phuti Seloba
Cell: 082 807 0796
