In most cases, ambulances arrive hours after the accident, rendering their service obsolete. Recent statistics by the Zimbabwe Traffic Police indicate that by October last year, road accident fatalities had increased from 35 deaths to 45 deaths per thousand accidents. Many questions have been raised about why ambulances fail to provide timely intervention.
An informal survey by The Zimbabwean revealed that most people lack information relating to ambulance services, while others were reluctant to contact them in fear of being involved as a witness.
Every second counts
“In an emergency, every second counts. The speed that treatment is received can literally make the difference between life and death but unfortunately the ambulance services are now consistently failing to meet the response expected by citizens,” said Joseph Nhundu of Mabvuku.
“What kind of emergency services do we have, if they can’t help people in emergencies?” wrote a reader to The Zimbabwean.
Mercy Ndlovu said it was useless to call for an ambulance as they were either delayed or demanded cash up front.
“Ambulances take an hour to arrive at life or death scenes. Journeys which are supposed take minutes, take paramedics hours. Many people are dying waiting for ambulances as they do respond swiftly to calls,” Ndlovu said.
IndiZim Health Director, Helen Macneilage, said lack of ambulances from the public sector had seen an increase of private players offering the much needed services.
“The Harare City Council is supposed to run a free service but they are almost non-existent. What happens to the ordinary people who cannot afford the ambulance fee? This is a serious problem,” she said.
User fees
Information shows that ambulance charges range from $30 to $50, a fee that is beyond the reach of many. According to sources, Harare City Council health services department has only three functioning ambulances after years of poor vehicle maintenance depleted a fleet of 24.
Spokesperson for HCC, Leslie Gwindi, acknowledged that the council was failing to provide the much needed service.
“It is a very long story. We do not have ambulances and have been talking about the inadequacy for years. We are working to improve the situation,” he said.
MARS Zimbabwe Business Development Manager, Ancha Chimbghandah, said they had been experiencing communication connectivity and had opted to move the call centre to a MARS Training School.
EMRAS General Manager, Craige Turner said their ambulances were on standby 24 hours a day.
“It is never the caller who pays for ambulance services. The victim will be billed or if they are on medical aid, a claim will be made to the Medical aid. In the case of public transport vehicles, where several causalities maybe involved, the owner or the insurance will be billed,” he said.
Post published in: News