Thursday, 7 June 2012

Outrage at ambulance no-show

People across the country have reacted with outrage and disgust to the death of electrician Mlungisi Dlamini, 25, who died after waiting for almost 20 hours for an ambulance to take him to hospital.

The poor response time by the ambulance service in the province has been roundly condemned.

The story, broken by the Pretoria News, had many South Africans relive their own personal ordeals as they called the paper and radio stations.

Gauteng Health MEC Ntombi Mekgwe told Talk Radio 702 she would be in meetings on Wednesday to try to resolve poor emergency response times.

The City of Tshwane had promised to respond to the shocking incident but failed to give a proper explanation.

The Pretoria News was first told a statement had been prepared, and the language department was still checking it. But by 6.20pm the paper was informed: “This is a very serious matter that the city takes very seriously. It is being investigated. We can only get back to you once the facts have been established.”

As the nation was discussing the tragedy, the Dlamini family were preparing to have Mlungisi’s body transported to KwaZulu-Natal.

His brother Sandile said he had received a call from emergency services. “They said they needed more information for their investigations and would get back to me once they were done,” said Sandile.

The family said they had to make loans to transport Mlungisi’s body. “We didn’t get any help from any government office,” he said.

DA provincial health spokesman Jack Bloom said this tragic case warranted a full investigation. There may be many other unreported cases where people have died because ambulances arrived too late, Bloom said.

“Municipalities render ambulance services on behalf of the province. There must be a management shake-up to radically improve response times. Poor performers must be fired and replaced with competent people,” said Bloom.

It was a pity that the emergency services budget was cut by R90 million this year “but every effort must be made to ensure that we have a decent ambulance service to save lives in this province”, he added.

Pretoria News reader Jamela Nkanyane lambasted emergency services and said it was a total disgrace to the nation. She also had a harrowing experience in 2009.

“I had an asthma attack. My friends called an ambulance but were told I should go to the nearest clinic. If I were able to get there on my own I wouldn’t have bothered to call.”

Nkanyane said she was eventually put in a taxi and taken to a hospital. She also lost a friend in 2006 who had an asthma attack. They had called the ambulance and it arrived two hours later when she was already dead, she said.

“In Dlamini’s case, why tell the family an ambulance is on its way when it’s not? Even worse, lie about it. Since when do ambulances get stuck in traffic with their sirens on?

“I don’t know whether there’s a need for more resources in the public sector or if this is because employees are just incompetent.” Simon Singo, another Pretoria News reader, found it very sad that people still died waiting for ambulances and the lame excuses to cover laziness and idleness among public servants.

“An ambulance gets stuck in traffic to fetch a patient but it will never get stuck in traffic while rushing to McDonald’s for lunch.

“But when it’s time to work, they are stuck. Public service in this country is pathetic. Those public servants are selfish, lazy and have this ‘I don’t care’ attitude,” he said.

He shared Bloom’s view that a probe be launched and those responsible fired, including the call centre staff. “We pay them. They must serve us. I don’t know if it’s affirmative action or a culture of entitlement.”

- Pretoria News/IOL

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