Gauteng emergency response times on par with international standard, says MEC
Gauteng MEC for Health and Wellness Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko says service delivery protests and attacks on ambulances and paramedics are some of the factors delaying emergency service response times.
Responding to questions in the Gauteng legislature on Tuesday, Nkomo-Ralehoko said the province's emergency services have managed to maintain an 88% response time for calls under 60 minutes.
The first hour is known as the golden hour and is vital to saving a patient’s life.
She said emergency services in the province continue to work on strategies to improve priority response times under 30 minutes in urban areas and 60 minutes in rural areas.
"In a bid to improve response times, the Gauteng Department of Health has invested in smart technologies such as push-to-talk devices that have live tracking to emergency calls and tracking, panic buttons and cameras in the emergency vehicles in order to mitigate against paramedic attacks which contribute towards delayed responses," said Nkomo-Ralehoko.
She said the department is also relying on law enforcement agencies to escort ambulances to areas that are marked as high-risk zones.
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