Declining healthcare services and the shortage of ambulances, in particular, are becoming a critical problem in Mpumalanga.
The FF Plus has asked the provincial MEC for Health, Ms Sasekane Manzini, to urgently investigate these shortfalls.
The FF Plus expressed its concern about the serious shortage of ambulances in the province several months ago already.
After questions about it were posed to Ms. Manzini at the time, she confirmed that there are 98 ambulances, but the province still only has 76 working ambulances at its disposal.
That is not even close to the number of 450, which the Department says the province needs. There ought to be one ambulance for every 1000 people.
Ms Manzini told the FF Plus that the Department will aim to buy ten new ambulances per year from now on, but that the overall number of ambulances will not necessarily increase as it is unclear how many ambulances will become unusable.
At present, the Department spends R50 million on maintaining its current ambulances.
It is, however, not only a matter of buying new ambulances as the Department also does not have enough trained personnel, 74% of whom have only completed a basic first-aid course of four weeks.
And meanwhile, people die while waiting for an ambulance.
Earlier this month, a man died in Middelburg in the Steve Thswete Local Municipality (Hendrina, Middelburg, Pullens Hope, Rietkuil) after he had to wait for more than four hours for an ambulance after being hit by a car.
He passed away before the specialised ambulance, the only one in the entire Mpumalanga province, arrived to transport him to another hospital.
The FF Plus sent follow-up questions to the Department about whether it is going to equip more ambulances with specialised equipment, and critical vacant positions being filled as soon as possible.
Read the original article in Afrikaans by Werner Weber on FF Plus
