New air ambulance for N Cape
The SA Red Cross’ air ambulance service in the Northern Cape will be replaced by the military, the province’s health department said on Thursday.
It cancelled the Air Mercy Service and opted for an an alternative arrangement with the military to save money, department spokeswoman Lulu Ntsie said.
The savings would be used to increase the number of doctors at the Gordonia Hospital and recruit more ambulance personnel for Kimberley and Upington.
Due to the geography and population distribution of the Northern Cape, patients often had to travel vast distances to reach medical care. To get to Kimberley Hospital, the province’s only provincial and tertiary medical facility, some patients had to travel up to 1400km from the farthest corner of the province.
The AMS had been in use for more than 10 years. The department had for some time been concerned about its cost and ongoing need to invest more money in district and regional hospital services.
“Concerns about value for money have also been raised by the office of the Auditor General and the portfolio committee of the Northern Cape Legislature.”
Ntsie said Upington’s Gordonia Hospital was being developed as a regional hospital and providing an increasing number of secondary hospital services. There were also 15 district hospitals in rural towns across the province.
The smallest of these, the Kakamas Hospital in the Siyanda District, had 30 beds. The largest, the Tshwaragano Hospital in the John Taolo Gaetsewe District, had 183. – (Sapa, June 2010)
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