Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Western Cape’s emergency crew attended to 3 534 trauma cases over the New Year’s long weekend – but trauma units saw a marked decrease in cases compared to the Christmas long weekend.
According to Dr Saadiq Kariem, the Western Cape Department of Health’s chief of operations, the third long weekend of the festive season “once again saw our trauma units and emergency medical services (EMS) called on relentlessly to provide emergency care to clients in need”.
“However, compared to the Christmas long weekend (10 245), our EMS teams were called out to fewer emergencies and crash sites,” he said.
From Friday, 30 December, to Tuesday, 3 January, more than 3 500 trauma cases presented at 41 emergency centres (ECs) across the province. In addition to these, a further 9 555 patients needed non-trauma medical care.
Of the trauma cases, 920 were stabbings, 760 were assaults with a blunt instrument, and 65 were gunshot wounds.
There were 17 motor-vehicle related injuries and 136 pedestrian-related injuries.
“Though preparedness plans for our facilities are in place, preventable trauma cases always place additional pressure on them. Most of the reported trauma cases were seen within the Cape Metro at facilities such as Delft Community Health Care (CHC), with 201 cases, Kraaifontein CHC, 193 cases, Paarl Hospital, 171 cases, Gugulethu CHC, 164 cases, and Khayelitsha Hospital, 163 cases,” said Kariem.
“Over the holiday period, unfortunately, we do see many incidents requiring emergency medical response. Our EMS crews again navigated a very busy weekend in responding to a total of 7 934 emergency calls across the province.”
EMS crews also attended to calls in Red Zone areas – where ambulances are accompanied by a police escort for safety – including in Beacon Valley, with 69 cases, Tafelsig, with 69 cases, Hanover Park, with 29 cases, and 16 cases in Chicago.
“The Western Cape Department of Health again thanks our citizens and residents for their responsible behaviour over this long weekend, which afforded our staff the necessary space and capacity to provide quality healthcare to our clients,” said Kariem.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
