ON LIFE SUPPORT: ‘The service has collapsed’: Eastern Cape ambulance crisis far worse than the state admits

{JSON.stringify(article.attachments[0], null, 2)} --> The Eastern Cape says its ambulance fleet is operational, but frontline EMS workers and their union say the supply of properly equipped vehicles is critically low, with only a handful available to respond to emergencies on some shifts in Nelson Mandela Bay.

The Eastern Cape’s ambulance crisis is far worse on the ground than official fleet figures suggest. Emergency medical services (EMS) workers in Nelson Mandela Bay describe a system on life support, with only a handful of properly equipped ambulances available to respond to emergencies on some shifts.

One experienced EMS source, who this week spoke to Daily Maverick on condition of anonymity, said the hollowing out of the division had reached a point where the public had little idea how close the service was to collapse.

“It is very, very sad to see where the service is right now. And the public don’t know half of it,” the source said.

“I honestly believe that the emergency medical service in South Africa has collapsed.”

The source described an EMS system plagued by broken-down vehicles, missing equipment, dangerous, life-threatening working conditions and a growing sense among personnel that they are being left to carry an increasingly impossible burden.

At the Dora Nginza ambulance base, which the source said should serve a large part of Gqeberha, only one fully equipped ambulance had recently been available.

“Today they ran about four or five vehicles, but only one of them was fully equipped. All of them don’t have stretchers,” the source said.

“For the better part of the day, you’ll find that there’s only two or three ambulances in Gqeberha that can actually help with a call. If they are available.”

In a video provided to Daily Maverick, an ambulance is seen undergoing engine problems, with plumes of smoke surrounding it. Inside the vehicle, there are neither oxygen cylinders nor a stretcher.

According to figures provided by Health MEC Ntandokazi Capa in response to a written question from DA MPL Jane Cowley, the Eastern Cape has 353 ambulances, of which 161 are grounded and 192 operational. Four years ago, there were 244 operational ambulances.

Cowley, however, said that following the response to the written questions, later reports indicated that the problem had worsened.

“Recently reported figures from the Eastern Cape Department of Health paint an even more alarming picture. The Department now says that, of a provincial fleet of approximately 350 ambulances, 211 are grounded, leaving just 139 ambulances operational and available for emergency calls.

“This means that 60% of the province’s entire ambulance fleet is currently off the road,” Cowley said.