In a press release issued by MP and deputy chief whip in the National Assembly, Michael Waters, a parliamentary reply revealed that the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) has a combined fleet of 212 ambulances.
“This is 106 ambulances short of what it should have available for operations within its metropolitan boundaries,” said Waters.
He said there should be one ambulance for every 10 000 residents.
“Given there are 3 178 470 residents (as per StatsSA June 2016), the metro should have 318 ambulances, resulting in a shortfall of 106 (33 per cent) ambulances,” he added.
He said that of the 212 ambulances operating within the metro, 45 are owned and managed by the Gauteng Department of Health Provincial EMS.
“The day-to-day operations of the remaining 167 ambulances are managed by the metro, of which the metro owns 84 and the provincial health department 83,” Waters said.
William Ntladi, spokesperson for the EMM emergency services, said the municipality supplemented its fleet with 36 new ambulances in August.
He said the municipality one ambulance is required for every 30 000 people.
“The plan as announced by the executive mayor, Mzwandile Masina, during the launch of the ambulances is to procure more vehicles (ambulances) annually to add on to the existing fleet,” said Ntladi.
Neither the DA’s nor the municipality’s figures for the number of ambulances required had been confirmed at the time of publishing.
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