Province prepared to respond to festive period emergency
Medical response vehicles are on standby.
THE KZN Department of Health is prepared to face any emergency situation that may arise during this festive period.
In eThekwini, emergency services personnel will be based at strategic points, among them the Shell Garage at Umgababa on the N2; spaghetti junction on the N2/N3 interchange; N2 – Gateway; N3 – Marianhill toll plaza and N2/M4 interchange.
“December marks the beginning of the festive season and this causes all major routes throughout KZN to experience a major influx and traffic congestion. That situation being inevitable, brings about increased accidents and trauma victims,” said KZN MEC for health, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo.
Alpha Operation, which will focus on festive season safety, was launched on Thursday, 11 December.
“We are prepared for any carnage or disaster with our revolutionary aero-medical night vision goggles system for our Helicopter Emergency Services (HEMS). The night vision goggles are specially designed and generally used in military environments. They allow the user better visibility in night conditions as our crew on board the emergency helicopters are now able to see a person standing over 183 metres away on a moonless, cloudy night.”
Two helicopters and a fixed wing aircraft are on permanent standby; as well as seven 60-seater disaster buses with stretchers and 15 medical rescue response units.
EMS vehicles are monitored by a vehicle monitoring and tracking system which allows for real time tracking. This assists with reducing response times as the nearest vehicle to an incident can be identified and dispatched accordingly.
All our healthcare institutions are also ready with qualified personnel and equipment to deal with all trauma cases. We also have access to facilities provided by the private hospital sector as they too have a responsibility of stabilising patients involved in accidents closer to their facilities, regardless of whether the patient is medically insured or not.
EMS will be working as a team with the Road Traffic Inspectorate; fire emergency services as well as the South African Police Services.
