By Johannah Malogadihlare
The Gauteng health department has a number of plans in place to ensure the health and safety of communities during the festive seasons.
Health and wellness MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko said the department was ready to serve the province under the theme “Beyond the Call of Duty – Responding to Emergencies, Preserving Lives”.
“This signals our readiness to go beyond the call of duty. To ensure that we marshal every resource at our disposal to effectively respond to any medical emergency across the province to save lives,” Nkomo-Ralehoko reassured citizens in a statement.
During the holidays, emergency service calls increase by around 25%, placing immense pressure on the healthcare system.
“I want to assure the residents of Gauteng that our hospitals and clinics across all the five health districts are well prepared for the challenges ahead.
“Proactive measures have been taken to ensure sufficient number of staff members along with the allocation of the necessary resources and equipment needed to serve our residents during this busy season,” she confirmed.
Additionally, all 38 community health centres would continue to operate 24 hours.
Nkomo-Ralehoko highlighted the role played by the medical supplies depot (MSD) in
managing the supply of pharmaceuticals to every hospital.
“It is MSD’s primary mandate to ensure that life-saving and essential medicines are available to all healthcare facilities and as such has committed to ensuring that medicine availability is kept above 95%, to meet the medical needs of patients,” she said.
Emergency Medical Services had committed to provide rapid response to citizens.
The MEC said the department has deployed a team of 4200 staff members that were all trained, experienced and ready to assist people.
“We have in this 2024/25 financial year trained over 3700 community members across the province as first responders surpassing our annual target of 2500,” Nkomo-Ralehoko said. She also mentioned that 11 offices across the five health districts would remain open with a staff compliment of 38 pathologists and 30 forensic officers, who would be on standby, and a total of 65 response vehicles would be available to deal with fatalities.
Furthermore, Nkomo-Ralehoko advised people to drink alcohol responsibly and practice safe sex.
She also warned people to avoid contaminated food and urged travellers to keep safe on the road.
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