WORST EVER GAUTENG EMERGENCY TIMES

Only 33% of priority one emergency calls were responded to within 15 minutes in Gauteng urban areas as compared to the 80% international standard.

This is revealed in the recently released Third Quarterly Performance Report of the Gauteng Health Department that covers the period from October to December 2010.

This is absolutely shocking. It is the worst it has ever been, deteriorating from 56% responded to within 15 minutes in the same period the previous year.

This is despite the fact that 60 new ambulances were purchased.

There is clearly appalling mismanagement in all three metro cities in Gauteng that run emergency services on behalf of the provincial government.

I get lots of complaints about slow response to emergency calls.

For instance, on Sunday 30 January, a call was made at 8 pm to assist an elderly man in Orange Farm in south Johannesburg. It did not arrive at all and he died at midnight.

In Pretoria, 14-year-old Sibongiseni Mbanda was struck by lightning in Atteridgeville on Saturday 29 January. The ambulance arrived more than an hour after it was called, which was too late to save him.

The poor state of ambulances should be a major issue in the upcoming local elections.

As in much else, the Western Cape leads the way in providing a better ambulance service for everyone - in the October to December period last year, 60% of calls were responded to under 15 minutes, an improvement from previously.

Gauteng's emergency services have gone steadily downhill, and it requires drastic intervention to get it right, otherwise many people will die who could have been saved.

Statement issuedby Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng Health Spokesman, February 7 2011

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter