Rural areas to suffer for 2010

2009-11-24 20:03

Bloemfontein - Free State health authorities might have to withdraw ambulances from rural areas in 2010 to service Soccer World Cup matches in Bloemfontein, the province's health oversight committee heard on Tuesday.

This was revealed when committee member Susan Mnunzana asked the health department why it took an ambulance eight hours to respond to a call in Bloemfontein.

The department's executive manager for strategic programmes Moeder Khokho explained the Free State only had about 80 working ambulances at any given time and not enough emergency staff.

"If the response for ordinary people was so slow, what about 2010?" Mnunzana asked.

FS will get more ambulances

Khokho said the department was ready for 2010, but they would have to "pull away (ambulances) from surrounding areas".

"What will happen to our communities if vehicles are pulled away?" Mnunzana asked.

Khokho said the Free State would get 30 new ambulances by December this year.

The province should have 250 ambulances, but the department was only managing to replace old ones.

On average 50 ambulances are bought every year for the Free State. Khokho said each working ambulance had a crew of 10.

Dire response time

The department had a 54% vacancy rate on ambulance crews and, due to financial constraints, could not hire more staff.

"Our response time is not what it should be," Khokho said.

Acting health MEC Thabo Manyoni indicated the Free State's "disaster management" for 2010 did not only include the health department.

He said all major routes in and out of the Free State, as well as Bloemfontein, would be covered by "emergency points" during the world cup.

Manyoni suggested the committee be given a briefing on the "state of readiness" for the event in this regard.
 

- SAPA