It’s been a busy festive season for Western Cape paramedics who responded to almost 50 000 medical emergencies in December. In addition, they were called out to attend to more than 5 300 cases over the New Year weekend alone.
In a statement, it emerged that around 44% of the New Year weekend incidents occurred in the Cape Metro.
Over the previous Christmas weekend, there were 1 243 incidents.
Zooming in on the figures, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) spokesperson Byron La Hoe said there were 11 453 trauma cases, 1 973 road traffic incidents and 204 fires in the province.
“A total of 6 479 inter-facility transport trips were made to ensure that clients received the care they needed in a time-efficient and safe manner,” La Hoe added.
Referring to the New Year chaos, La Hoe said: “The EMS responded to 122 road traffic incidents, 55 fewer than the previous weekend. This included 39 pedestrians which account for 32% of this weekend’s road traffic incidents. There were also two search and rescue incidents in Rooi-Els Bay and Table Mountain respectively.”
The emergencies over the weekend included 883 incidents of non-cardiac pain, 771 weapon assaults, 453 respiratory complaints, 31 physical assaults and 310 obstetric or gynaecological complaints.
Police escorted ambulances to callouts in hotspot areas, including 50 incidents in Beacon Valley, 39 in Tafelsig, 26 in Hanover Park and 10 in Chicago, Paarl.
“The EMS would like to thank the police for their efforts in keeping the paramedics safe during the end-of-year weekend,” La Hoe added.
News24 previously reported that hospitals in the province had dealt with more than 1 600 trauma admissions at emergency centres.
Between 20:00 on Friday and 08:00 on Monday, there were 1 652 trauma-related admissions at 20 hospitals in the province. Cases increased by more than 34% from Christmas weekend.
News 24
