Thousands of holiday travellers have flocked into KwaZulu-Natal to enjoy themselves. The number of traffic injuries and incidents of violence usually increase around these seasons and the Department of Health is well prepared to provide emergency medical services.
Behind every road traffic crash statistic, there are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, grandchildren, colleagues, classmates and friends whose lives are changed forever. For every severe crash, survivors, relatives and friends can suffer physical, psychological, emotional and economic devastation.
These stories put a human face on the statistics presented in road safety reports. Each of the hundred deaths and thousand more injuries every year has a story to tell. These stories emphasise that if prevention measures and social protection measures had been in place, an enormous amount of suffering could have been avoided.
“Road traffic injuries are a major but neglected public health challenge that requires concerted efforts for effective and sustainable prevention. Of all the systems with which people have to deal every day, road traffic systems are the most complex and the most dangerous,” says the MEC for Health, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo.
For the emergencies occurring this week-end, the department has provided: 162 additional emergency personnel, 51 more ambulances, two helicopters, one aeroplane, 15 rescue vehicles, six disaster buses and 28 advanced life support practitioners.
“For us this Easter weekend is our last ‘dry run’ ahead of the FIFA World Cup in June. The resources we have deployed will help us to make final preparations to our plans for the World Cup. These resources are deployed in strategic areas where all other emergency services will be deployed in the province. Our greater emphasis will be high accident areas and other places where people will be gathering,” the MEC added.
Enquiries:
Chris Maxon
Cell: 083 285 0567
Issued by: Department of Health, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
3 April 2010
