Eastern Cape ambulance crisis leaves patients stranded as vehicles sit grounded
Health-e News Eastern Cape ambulance crisis leaves patients stranded as vehicles sit grounded When Lizeka Ngcozana’s cousin had a stroke on a Tuesday morning, she took her to Ngonyama Clinic outside Cacadu in the Eastern Cape. But there was no ambulance available to take her to hospital. Ngcozana says nurses told the family to find their own transport to Frontier Hospital in Komani, about 70km…
Eastern Cape's ambulance crisis has left patients stranded as vehicles sit grounded, according to local residents and officials. In Ngonyama Clinic outside Cacadu, there were no ambulances available when Ngcozana's cousin suffered a stroke, forcing her to hire a car for R500 to Frontier Hospital. Nurses at clinics across the province struggle to reach ambulance services by phone or are told no ambulances are available.
Emihle Winter, a resident of Hofmeyr town, says the town has been without an ambulance for over a month, causing patients to miss appointments. Another resident, Bulelwa Hemeni, reported a relative waiting for an ambulance for over five hours before the ambulance arrived too late, after the patient had already passed away. In Gqeberha, a family whose 17-year-old son was critically ill had to wait 12 hours for an ambulance, leading to a South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) investigation.
The Eastern Cape government has rolled out more ambulances to address the shortage, which has left nearly half of the fleet off the road.
Written by urgent.news from Health-e News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
