The Democratic Alliance (DA) will intensify pressure on the newly appointed MEC for Health, Nontobeko Vilakazi, to urgently intervene and halt the Department of Health’s escalating failure to provide basic emergency medical services to the residents of Groblershoop.
The crisis reached breaking point last week when I received multiple calls from residents reporting that emergency medical services were inaccessible. On Thursday, 29, there was no ambulance on duty in Groblershoop, not even a standby nurse, leaving the entire community dangerously exposed in the event of a medical emergency. Later that same evening, no emergency care was available for a mother and her child in need of urgent assistance.
The situation persisted into the weekend. On Saturday, I personally attempted to contact the emergency control room to summon help for a 40-year-old stab victim but there was no answer.
The health district manager has also failed to return my calls, proving to be just as unreliable and absent as the ambulance services.
Based on the latest available information, only 11 of the 22 ambulances in the ZF Mgcawu District are currently operational. This shortfall is compounded by a severe shortage of medical care officers, forcing single-crew ambulances to operate in small towns, with an unacceptable and unsustainable reliance on off-duty staff.
This dangerous practice undermines 24/7 emergency services and places both patients and healthcare workers at serious risk.
If this crisis is not resolved immediately, it is only a matter of time before avoidable tragedies occur and people die.
DA provincial leader, Isak Fritz, will again address the ongoing shortfalls in emergency medical services, and the current situation in Groblershoop, at next week’s scheduled health portfolio committee meeting at the provincial legislature.
The DA will not accept excuses while communities are left exposed to medical emergencies with no reliable response. Immediate intervention is required before yet another preventable tragedy occurs.