Recent media queries with headlines such as ‘Bakkies used to transport patients’ have raised public concern that the Department of Health is compromising patient care due to a lack of adequate ambulances in the province. The Department of Health in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) therefore wishes to clarify matters for publication as follows:
The KZN Department of Health Fleet Services is managed through a National Tender. A company called Transit Solutions had successfully won the recent contract to service and maintain the fleet of vehicles of the Department of Health. The contract was awarded by National Treasury and the National Department of Transport in collaboration with Standard Bank Fleet Management as part of the agreement.
Unfortunately since the vehicle fleet management takeover by Transit Solutions as of 1 April 2014, most provinces have reportedly experienced problems with the company’s service especially in the area of Emergency Medical Services. One of the critical issues of concern is that Transit Solutions do not have a database of service merchants available in KwaZulu-Natal. This has affected the KZN Department of Health’s ability to provide an efficient and reliable ambulance service due to the following reasons:
Having to secure merchants far removed from the service point which is time consuming. Delays in the approval and processing of quotations to Transit Solutions due to insufficient data tracking systems in place by the company.
The Transit Solutions Call Centre is not a 24 hour service which severely impacts on Emergency Medical Services which operates a 24 hour, 7 day week service. The ambulance services of the Department of Health in KZN has been severely affected by these challenges as it was forced to keep ambulances awaiting service off the road rather than compromise patient care and safety on the roads.
In the interim and to ensure patient lives are not lost due to these circumstances, the department tried its best to respond to calls from critical patients needing to be transported to our health facilities for treatment. The department has deployed its Emergency and Rescue vehicles which would ordinarily be reserved for this function only.
The department wishes to emphasize that such vehicles are not permanent patient transporters but a temporary measure to ensure patient care is not compromised due to a lack of ambulances. The department has responded by deploying their support vehicles in order to ensure that health care service is continued despite the constraints.
The Department of Health in KZN, together with other provincial health departments, have taken up the service issues with Transit Solutions and stressed the need to address the matter urgently, particularly as those accessing our ambulance services have no other means of transport to access our health services.
The department has requested feedback next week from the company with timeframes on resolving the service issues. The department regrets the inconvenience this has caused to patients beyond its control.
For more information:
Sam Mkhwanazi
Cell: 081 038 2193
Desmond Motha
Cell: 083 295 3901
