One single ambulance for 750 000 people …
|Published
Durban — The KZN Department of Health has been accused of placing more than 750 000 lives at risk in Chatsworth and Lamontville by operating only one ambulance from the key hub, RK Khan Hospital. This was revealed by the DA in the province.
After receiving numerous complaints from members of the community in Chatsworth, south of Durban, about the non-availability of sufficient ambulances to serve the sprawling district, the DA dispatched its Premier candidate, Chris Pappas, Western Cape Health MEC, Dr Nomafrench Mbombo and DA KZN Health Spokesperson, Edwin Baptie, to conduct an oversight at the hospital ambulance section on Friday.
Pappas said their findings pointed to a worrying state. The DA had received reports of severe ambulance shortages, with only one ambulance operating with severely long response times.
Pappas expressed his disappointment that his delegation was prevented from entering the premises, despite prior written notice, raising the serious question if the Health Department had something to hide.
The DA delegation waited for more than an hour for the acting head of the ambulance section to arrive. This after they were informed by security at the gate that the head was on leave so the acting head would fill in as the driver of the ambulance.
Eventually, Dave Gounden arrived but he refused to answer the DA’s questions about the number of ambulances in operation.
He claimed he was not informed of the DA’s visit. He wanted the party to send an invitation directly to him so that he could forward it to the relevant officials before the delegation could view the ambulances.
Although they were barred from accessing the site where ambulances were parked, the DA said it was reliably informed that only one out of five was working. Other vehicles were idle in the parking lot after being decommissioned.
The DA said the health department was putting the lives of more than 750 000 at risk. The party was informed that a family had lost a family member because the ambulance had not arrived on time.
The local DA leadership said RK Khan Hospital serves a population of about 750 000, including Chatsworth, Welbedacht, and Lamontville as well as informal settlements around these areas in the south of Durban.
Benchmarking health services to the Western Cape where the DA governs, Dr Mbombo said this was an absolute contrast to the state of affairs in her province where infrastructure was well-maintained and timeously so, in line with the DA’s 2030 Healthcare plan.
Mbombo said the DA-run Western Cape is the only province in Africa that utilises robotics surgery at its public hospitals, adding that her department had started using drones in remote areas.
The MEC said it was not normal if a manager was on leave that his position would be filled by an ambulance driver.
This was a big problem because it meant issues that needed management’s attention would be attended to by the driver or not receive attention at all, because the driver may be on the road to collect a patient.
The delegation also met a local Chatsworth family who said they had not received closure for the trauma experienced at the hands of RK Khan staff. The situation cited was a near-death medical emergency whereby a patient waited four hours to be attended to.
The DA said negligence and loss of medical records were the main problems at the hospital. The party promised to fix the problems once they take over power in the province.
KZN Health Department had not responded by publication time. However, it promised to respond comprehensively on Monday (today).
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