Gauteng ambulances short of budget in face of huge demand increase

10 July 2017

The demand for emergency services in Gauteng has surged in the last two years, but only 114 new ambulances will be bought this year even though we are 700 ambulances short of the desired number of ambulances for our population.

This is according to a presentation by Gauteng Emergency Medical Services (GEMS) at a meeting of the Gauteng Legislature Health Committee last week Friday.

The National Health target is 1474 ambulances for Gauteng, but there are currently only 773 ambulances.

The plan is to buy 114 ambulances this year, but 110 ambulances were disposed last year due to accidents, high mileage and high cost to repair, so the total number of ambulances barely increases.

Ideally, 33% of the ambulance fleet should be replaced every year to prevent high mileage and maintenance costs.

The number of dispatched emergency cases has nearly doubled from an average of 13 965 cases per month in 2015 to 26 063 cases per month this year.

GEMS says that "there is limited Capex budget to buy adequate ambulances to meet current demand optimally" and there is a "high amount of accruals - a multi-year effect that impacts negatively on implementation of plans."

The GEMS budget this year is R1.175 billion, but R223 million of this budget will be used to pay debts from the previous year, which shows poor financial management.

It is unclear where the money will come from for the projected overspend this year of R218 million.

Other problems identified include the following:

- only one purpose-built EMS station and the rest are makeshift using old health facilities.

- inadequate wash bays, sluice rooms, storage facilities, rest areas.

- delays in installing telephones and LAN network at EMS stations.

- shortage of qualified paramedics and other staff.

- delays when ambulances hand over patients at hospitals which should not be more than 20 minutes.

- prioritising of cases is difficult as callers cannot give accurate vital data.

- attacks on paramedics, including shootings at Odi and Cullinan.

It is distressing that the emergency services are in such poor shape as slow response times increase the risk of death.

Better management of the available budget is needed, including contracts with private ambulances to provide a better service.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health, 10 July 2017