Rural dwellers in the villages around Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, say they have to wait hours for ambulances, because the vehicles have to travel more than 100km to get to them, while a local hospital CEO has even had to resort to collecting patients in his own car, reports Bongane Motaung for GroundUp.
Senior officials at the two main hospitals in the area said the ambulances operate from Empangeni, near Richards Bay: 130km from Nkandla Hospital and 150km from Ekombe Hospital, and at the very least, a three-hour drive on the badly maintained dirt roads.
Dr Mbhekeseni Zungu, CEO of Ekombe Hospital, told GroundUp he sometimes fetches patients in his own car because the ambulances are unreliable.
The hospital has one ambulance allocated to it, but the vehicle remains parked in Empangeni when it’s not in use.
“In emergencies, we hire vans instead of waiting for an ambulance,” said Doreen Ndebele, a pensioner from Tsamlomo village. It costs about R700 for a private trip to the hospital.
In September, it was admitted in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature that across the whole province, there were 480 ambulances, of which only 177 were operational.
The provincial Department of Health did not respond to questions despite numerous follow-ups.
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