After a decade-long struggle with the Eastern Cape Department of Health, desperate Xhora Mouth residents on the Wild Coast will finally have an ambulance service, reports News24.
Villagers were having to pay as much as R1 300 for private taxis for emergency hospital trips – nearly 19 times more than the R70 cost of regular public transport for a round trip.
Often, those who fell ill during the night were forced to wait until morning to hire taxis for hospital transport, regardless of the seriousness of their condition, to travel to Madwaleni Hospital about 17km away.
After the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), on behalf of the locals, took legal action against the health department for its failure to provide emergency medical services, last week the Bhisho High Court ruled in the community’s favour, compelling it to provide ambulances.
Community leader Phumzile Msaro said that at some point in 2015, “they provided two ambulances, but they withdrew those during the same year without telling us when they would be made available again”.
“This led to ongoing battles and unfulfilled promises since that year,” added Msaro, who is also the Mbhashe Local Municipality’s independent Ward 28 councillor.
The court has now ordered the provincial government to comply with its constitutional and statutory obligations relating to EMS.
Within six months, at least two fully equipped, staffed, and operational ambulances must be made available for the Xhora Mouth community, “to ensure an adequate, effective, and sustainable … service … including access to referral hospitals such as Madwaleni and Zithulele”.
The respondents – the provincial government and the provincial health department – were instructed to report back to the court within seven months on their compliance.
SAHRC’s Eastern Cape manager Dr Eileen Carter said the court order came after years of sustained engagement by the commission, dating back to 2015.
“This is not simply a service delivery gap; it is a violation of the rights to dignity, life, reproductive healthcare, and access to healthcare.”
Provincial Health spokesperson Siyanda Manana said the department was working towards implementing the court order.
“It is their constitutional right to receive emergency medical services, and we acknowledge that as the department.”
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