Air ambulance service celebrated
AMS has been operating from two bases in Durban and Richards Bay since June 1998
KZN Health MEC, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo has commended the contribution of SA Red Cross Air Mercy Services (AMS) in providing emergency air ambulance services across the province.
AMS has been operating from two bases in Durban and Richards Bay since June 1998.
Speaking at an event to celebrate the 20-year partnership with the department last week, MEC Dhlomo applauded the extremely valuable service they provide.
‘KZN is an very mountainous and vast province; to travel from Kokstad to Durban for instance, is about four and half hours.
ALSO READ: Policemen shot, prisoner killed in botched escape
‘It’s the same with Manguzi to Durban.
‘If you had to have a patient in Manguzi or Kokstad who has been examined and the doctors are saying he or she has several critical injuries and bleeding, that patient can’t be assisted in a distant area.
‘That patient needs to be connected to the machines put in ICU on a ventilator and receive blood.
That can only be done at a bigger hospital such as Albert Luthuli,’ said Dhlomo.
He said that is why the AMS service is beneficial for citizens even in remote areas of the province.
‘It is going to put people’s minds at ease knowing that if they were to be involved in an accident in, for example Nongoma and Kokstad, they would be safe because this Department is able to send a helicopter with advanced technology to fetch you from there.
‘Within 30 minutes you’d be at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital.
ALSO READ: Worry over aerial activity in Empangeni skies
‘We treat those who are ill but those who are injured in far-flung areas, this is the best for our province,’ he said.
To date more than 384 000 patients have benefited from the AMS helicopter and fixed air wing with 64 220 medical personnel receiving training at various health facilities.
The MEC also welcomed the recent establishment of a mobile medical training simulator unit that is funded by the National Lotteries Commission.
AMS CEO Dr Phillip Erasmus said: ‘Even the most marginalised communities in the more peripheral areas can enjoy the same health benefits as citizens in urban settings.
‘Aside from the thousands of indigent communities that are afforded specialist support in their hometowns, the local health practitioners are being supported and capacitated to develop with the support of their senior counterparts,’ Erasmus said.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter
For news straight to your phone invite us:
WhatsApp – 072 069 4169
Instagram – zululand_observer
