KZN Emergency Services fail to reach critical patients in under 15 minutes

26 September 2017

According to a recent report presented to the KZN provincial health portfolio committee, the provincial Health Department’s Emergency Medical Rescue Services (EMRS) Unit is not able to reach 95% of all priority one emergencies within Durban’s Metro area in less than 15 minutes.

The DoH’s target for attending such Metro emergencies is currently just 5%, while the Department has a target of under 40 minutes in other areas of the province.

The DoH currently meeting its own single figure target is little cause for celebration. The fact that there is also no proper monitoring mechanism to ensure that this information is correct, is also a great concern.

Emergencies by their very nature always require immediate attention, while the right to access to emergency care is enshrined in our country’s Constitution in terms of Section 27(3) which reads “No one may be refused emergency medical treatment”. The DoH’s performance in terms of EMRS falls way short of this definition. In fact, the DA regards this inadequacy as a human rights violation.

KZN has, at any given time, approximately 180 ambulances available because others are frequently breaking down, when it should have 1 059 ambulances for the population size. With stats like this, it is little wonder that a woman was left waiting 18 hours in Durban for an ambulance after she broke her leg.

The state of KZN’s EMRS and other health services can be laid at the door of Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo, who is destroying this vital service Department. Equally to blame is Premier Willies Mchunu who has no intention of holding his MEC to account.

The DA will not tolerate this ongoing decay at the expense of so many lives. We will continue to fight for the removal of MEC Dhlomo.

Issued by Imran Keeka, DA KZN Spokesperson on Health, 26 September 2017