Note to Broadcasters: Please find a linked soundbite in English by Gavin Edwards MPL.
The DA in the North West calls on Premier Bushy Maape and the MEC for Health, Madoda Sambatha, to request and adjustment to the Department of Health’s budget to accommodate the reintroduction of aero-medical transport services.
In response to written DA questions, the “out of touch” Premier Maape replied that the services would only be introduced based on the availability of budget, as part of the three year old 2020 Emergency Medical Service (EMS) Strategy. This is a convenient cop-out because as the Executive, they decide how funding would be allocated in the budget and there is much to be said that in 2023 the provincial government is still working on an outdated EMS strategy from 2020.
Aero-medical services were delivered under the illegal Buthelezi EMS, which came to an end in 2019, with a financial cost of R37 million. The contract with Buthelezi EMS is subject to a Special Investigations Unit (SIU) and a Hawks investigation, which has yet to yield any positive results. Not a single person has been arrested and none of the wasted taxpayer funds have been recovered.
North West is a large rural province with extremely long distances between medical facilities. All specialised medical care is only provided at hospitals in Klerksdorp, Rustenburg, Potchefstroom, and Brits, which means that patients with serious and emergency life-threatening medical conditions need to be transported by road to these facilities for treatment.
Premier Maape is completely disconnected from the reality that patients in the province confront. Promises of better services, based on a three-year-old strategy, without details, timetables, or precise implementation strategies remain at the heart of an ineffective ANC-run government.
The ANC-led North West stands in stark contrast with the DA-led Western Cape which has functional and effective aero-medical and ambulance services and where we take pride in the exceptional medical care and quick turnaround times that contribute significantly to saving the lives of the citizens.