The ambitious target of One Ambulance One Ward will see 23 ambulances being presented to the people of Xhariep through their ward councillor in Koffiefontein today, 17 April.
According to the Free State Department of Health’s spokesperson, Mondli Mvambi, these ambulances are well equipped with the requisite skills per roster to service the 17 towns and 23 wards.
“This is a remarkable improvement in the acceleration of saving the lives of the people of the Xhariep District who live in towns that are vastly far apart from each other with rural roads which often slow down the pace of rapid response during emergencies. This innovation in service delivery improvement will see the department edging closer to meeting the global norms and standards of one ambulance per 10,000 people,” said Mvambi.
He added that the Xhariep District has a population of 131,060, according to the Census 2022, with some towns far smaller than the 10,000 population size. The ambulance allocation per ward will therefore see the service reaching citizens in need faster than it was previously.
“Furthermore, the implementation of this service delivery innovation has seen the increase in recruitment of specialist skills in EMS, with 118 personnel of various specialist skills being deployed in each of the towns and ward-based ambulance services. This service delivery innovation will further build on the digital innovations that the department launched in November 2023, where assisted virtual reality-based telemedicine technology was unleashed,” said Mvambi.
He further said that this technology links our ground forces on scenes of trauma and incidents to health specialists at various health institutions, so that medics becomes an integral part of the continuous process of saving lives – from the point of incident to the final destination at a health facility.
“I’m looking forward to this accomplishment as it sets us up to the next journey of a myriad of health challenges to overcome. Let’s do more, together,” concluded the Free State Health MEC, Mathabo Leeto.
Compiled by Justine Fortuin
