The true picture of the ambulance crisis in KwaZulu-Natal has been laid bare, with an internal report showing that some patients, including expectant mothers and those with burn wounds who require urgent attention, wait up to eight hours for an ambulance.
The report, exclusively obtained by Sunday World, paints a picture of a challenge that has gone on for months without being resolved by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health, which is led by the ANC’s Nomagugu Simelane-Mngadi (formerly Simelane-Zulu).
The report was compiled from data obtained from the Pomeroy community health centre in the Umzinyathi district in the northern part of the province between April and September this year, and has already been sent to the provincial headquarters in Pietermaritzburg, where sources said nothing has been done.
According to the data, in July, a woman pregnant with twins experienced labour difficulties while at home, and her family called an ambulance from the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) fleet owned by the department. The ambulance arrived three and a half hours later.
It was noted by the source who leaked the report to the Sunday World that the woman nearly gave birth without the supervision of qualified medical staff.
In another life-threatening incident, a woman with pre-eclampsia had to wait for eight hours for an ambulance.
According to the medical journal WebMD, pre-eclampsia is a pregnancy-specific condition causing high blood pressure and excess protein in the urine that typically develops after the 20th week of pregnancy, and potentially leads to kidney and liver damage, brain injury, or other serious complications for both mother and foetus.
In another incident, a woman with late-onset gestational hypertension had to wait for seven hours, and by then she was near death.
According to WebMD, this high blood pressure develops after 20 weeks of pregnancy with no signs of organ damage or excess protein in the urine, and it is associated with a less severe initial outcome and fewer foetal complications compared to early-onset forms.
However, both the mother and foetus are at risk of complications if the condition is not managed, which may include early delivery.
Pregnant women were not the only victims.
A young girl who had serious burn wounds had to wait for six hours and twenty minutes.
A fact-finding mission by members of the provincial legislature found that state ambulances across the province are either non-functional due to mechanical faults or are in for service.
In one case, which was communicated to the Sunday World by a source, the large Gingindlovu area has only one operational ambulance.
Dr Imraan Keeka, a DA MPL who serves in the health portfolio committee, told Sunday World that EMS in the province is in a dire state, “and this report reflects a reality across most, if not all, districts”.
“Response times vary, but the department has consistently failed to meet the national norms. In urban areas, the acceptable response time for priority 1 (life-threatening) emergencies is 15 minutes, and in rural areas it is 40 minutes. For lower-priority cases or inter-facility transfers, the norm is 60 minutes.
“On any good day, only about a third of the provincial ambulance fleet is operational, with the rest stuck in garages awaiting repairs,” Keeka said.
Keeka added that alarmingly, one report highlighted an ambulance that has been standing idle since February for nothing more than a fan belt.
“Many vehicles have racked up excessive mileage, with some exceeding 500 000km. Even if every ambulance were on the road, we would still face a severe shortage of personnel. The dispatch system remains outdated and paper-based, with EMS staff often forced to use personal cell phones at their own cost to coordinate calls,” he added.
The department had not commented at the time of publication.
