Metro procures more ambulances for quicker response time
The Gauteng Health Department is in the process of procuring more ambulances, in a bid to improve Emergency Medical Services (EMS) response times.
They plan to obtain 160 ambulances in this financial year.
Of these, 40 are obstetric ambulances, meaning they will help to ferry pregnant patients to EMS facilities.
These vehicles will supplement the 787 ambulances that are currently in use in the province.
These include 497 provincial, 170 metro and 120 private ambulance service providers.
The procurement of new ambulances forms part of the EMS multi-year recapitalisation programme, which started in the 2012/13 financial year.
Meanwhile, ambulances that are deemed uneconomical to repair are being decommissioned and taken out of the system.
In order to ensure that ambulances are being used for the sole purposes of ferrying patients and serving the people of Gauteng, the department will install a software system in the communication systems of both the provincial and the municipal EMS Command Centres (City of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni).
The system will assist Gauteng EMS officials to monitor the dispatch of ambulances at both ends and this will assist the ”rationalisation of resources” concept, which will necessitate well-informed dispatch of ambulances.
In addition to that, the system will also empower officials to track calls, to alleviate unwanted complaints, and it will also play a critical role in instituting corrective measures against officials when necessary.
The private sector has, in principle, agreed to allocate officials who will share the Provincial Command Centre with EMS and this will also assist the process of sharing information with them and assist EMS when necessary.
The department is launching a first aid flagship training programme in August.
This training will target members of the community in areas that are sometimes difficult to access by ambulance.
“We will train about 30 members of the community from different structures and, in addition, all our community health care workers will also be trained accordingly,” says Steve Mabona, spokesman for the department.
“We call upon members of the public to assist us and to report abuse of our ambulances, to avoid prank calls, not to call an ambulances for transportation needs and to prevent unnecessary accidents.”
Important: When a booking is made to the control centre for a patient, the caller needs to give the following information:
- Name of patient.
- Most recent vital signs.
- Suspected or provisional diagnoses and location of the patient.
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