Ambulances shortage ruin services at Philadelphia Hospital

DENNILTON – Lack of ambulances at the Philadelphia Hospital in Dennilton outside Groblersdal has attracted calls for the Limpopo Health MEC’s intervention.

Insiders said it has recently come to light that three ambulances that were allocated to the hospital had either broken done or taken for service.

According to the insiders the hospital had for sometime recently been forced to operate with only one ambulance, which had also gone for service or repairs, leaving a huge void in patients’ transportation at the health facility.

It is alleged that numerous complaints were received since the beginning of this month from frustrated villagers who sought ambulance services.

Worst, it is rumoured that some of the frustrated villagers lost their loved ones due to unavailability of ambulances at the hospital.

Sources close to the hospital said over 60 villages in Moutse were solely dependent on three ambulances for the life saving service and of recent that the vehicles had broken down, they were experiencing a crisis.

“We acknowledge the amount of work and strain put on the department by the COVID-19 pandemic and the budget constraints but these other equally important issues, especially Emergency Medical Services (EMS), as they can mean the difference between life and death, cannot be neglected,” said one of the sources who requested to remain anonymous.

The residents said they wished that the Limpopo Department of Health would give the situation at the hospital the urgent attention it needed so that life of people in the area could be saved.

Attempts to get comment from the Limpopo Department of Health were not successful at the time of going to press as the paper’s query on the matter sent last week and again on Tuesday this week had not been responded to.