The Free State Department of Health has presented 23 ambulances equipped with the latest equipment designed for mobile emergency care to deliver services in the Xhariep district.
The provision of this fleet of ambulances is in line with the department’s ambitious plan of having one ambulance in each ward of this vast region of the province. Through this community-based ambulance service, the department aims at improving response times and deliver health services.
The MEC for Health, Mathabo Leeto, presented the fleet in Koffiefontein on 17 April.
“This accomplishment sets us up for the next journey of a myriad of health challenges to overcome,” said Leeto.
The fleet is envisioned to further relieve residents of the frustration to wait extended hours for an ambulance.
Mondli Mvambi, spokesperson for the department, said the ambulances were well equipped with the requisite skills per roster to service the 17 towns and 23 wards. He said the implementation of this service delivery innovation created employment for 118 persons with specialist skills in emergency medical services.
Mvambi confirmed the cohort of specialist skilled personnel would be deployed in each of the towns.
“This will further build on the digital innovations of a reality telemedicine technology the department launched in November 2023.
“This technology links our ground forces on scenes of trauma and incidents to health specialists in various health institutions, so that an ambulance becomes an integral part of the continuous process of saving lives from the point of incidents to their final destination in health facility of care,” explained Mvambi.
According to him, the innovation in service delivery improvement brings the provincial department closer to meeting the global norms and standards of one ambulance per 10 000 population.
“This is a remarkable improvement in the acceleration of saving the lives of the people of the Xhariep district, who live in towns that are vastly far apart from each other with rural roads which often slowed down the pace of rapid response during emergencies,” said Mvambi.
He said the Xhariep district has a population of 131 060, with some towns’ population being less than 10 000, as per recent statistics of Census 2022.
“The ambulance allocation per ward will see the service reaching citizens in need far more faster than previously.
“Over the years the provincial department has been sharply criticised for the shortage of ambulances and skilled personnel to render emergency services.”
Further sharp criticism involved the department’s decision to enlist a private ambulance service, the Buthelezi Ambulance Service, instead of making a concerted effort to render the service.
The private company was contracted from 2014 to 2019.
The private company’s fleet of 48 ambulances reportedly billed the department R6,5 million per month to render services, against the department’s budget of R148 million.
