Statement by Jane Cowley MPL – DA Shadow MEC for Health:
- Patients in Humansdorp stranded after the Patient Transfer Vehicle meant to take them to Gqeberha broke down.
- The only other PTV servicing the area had been grounded for maintenance, leaving vulnerable patients without reliable access to specialist healthcare.
- Additional ambulances in Buffalo City today will not resolve the systemic fleet and maintenance crisis affecting communities across the province.
For patients who depend on provincial transport to access specialist healthcare in Gqeberha, a working Patient Transfer Vehicle is not a convenience. It is their only means of reaching the treatment they need.
This morning, that lifeline failed patients in Humansdorp.
The PTV scheduled to transport patients to Gqeberha broke down, while the only other PTV servicing the Kouga and Koukamma municipalities had already been grounded for maintenance earlier this week.
The Democratic Alliance welcomes the additional ambulances launched by the Eastern Cape Department of Health in Buffalo City today. Every additional functional vehicle placed on the road is desperately needed.
However, adding new vehicles to the fleet will not, on its own, resolve a crisis in which existing ambulances and patient transport vehicles are being left grounded for weeks and months.
Just last month, the Department confirmed that only 139 of its approximately 350 ambulances were operational, with 211 grounded. Of those grounded vehicles, 167 had been out of service for more than a month.
Today’s situation in Humansdorp demonstrates why the province needs more than vehicle launches. It needs a properly maintained, adequately resourced fleet with sufficient capacity across every district.
Last month I wrote to Health MEC Ntandokazi Capa requesting an investigation into the systemic failures surrounding ambulance repairs and maintenance, and to Premier Oscar Mabuyane requesting his urgent intervention.
I have now written to MEC Capa requesting a time-bound plan to provide additional Patient Transfer Vehicles to Kouga and Koukamma, as well as a full breakdown of the additional ambulances being allocated across the province, including how many will be deployed to the Sarah Baartman District and when they will become operational.
Kouga and Koukamma are reportedly each currently down to just one functional ambulance.
National norms and standards provide for one ambulance per 10 000 people. On this basis, Kouga should have approximately 11 ambulances and Koukamma approximately four. Two functional ambulances cannot reasonably provide adequate emergency coverage to communities with a combined population of roughly 150 000 people.
Residents of Kouga and Koukamma deserve a professional, accountable provincial health service they can depend on in emergencies.
