Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has only 35 of the 115 operational ambulances it is supposed to have according to national Health Department requirements. The Times reports that this shock concession was made by Eastern Cape Health MEC Helen Sauls-August in a written answer to a question by the Democratic Alliance's (DA’s) Bobby Stevenson.
Eastern Cape Health Department spokesperson Lwandile Sicwetsha confirmed that the department also only had money to replace broken and old ambulances and not to expand the fleet.
According to Sauls-August’s reply‚ the metro has 43 ambulances‚ of which only 35 are operational but, the report says, according to the standards set by the national health department‚ the metro should have at least one ambulance for every 10‚000 residents‚ which equates to 115 ambulances.
Senior health officials in the metro said while the ambulance service had 15 to 20 ambulances per shift on the roster‚ it should have about 120.
The report sayas despite the shortage‚ the metro’s emergency responders respond to 90% of high-priority calls within an hour‚ according to official statistics‚ and to 50% of urgent calls within 15 minutes.
[link url="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2018-07-16-nelson-mandela-bay-facing-severe-shortage-of-ambulances/"]The Times report[/link]