20 March, 2003

Press Release

A resident dies, top city officials dispatched

Outraged by the death of a resident in Diepsloot, Midrand on Wednesday whilst waiting for an ambulance, the Executive Mayor Amos Masondo, today dispatched top city officials to express sympathy to the bereaved family.

The Mayor, who could not deliver this message himself due to prior commitment, delegated Regional Director of Region 1&2 (Diepsloot and Midrand) Greg Daniels, to convey deepest sympathy on behalf of the people of Johannesburg. Also efforts also being made to ensure that the incident is never repeated.

Ms. Nomusa Mahlokozi (35) of Diepsloot died early on Wednesday morning after waiting for "nearly three hours for the ambulance" according to a report in The Star newspaper yesterday.

After visiting the family, members of the community and the city's Emergency Management Services (EMS) management team in the area, Daniels, said he had established that contrary to media reports, Mahlokozi's " delayed" treatment was as a result of lack of communication between emergency personnel and the callers and not refusal for treatment as earlier reported.

"Activity reports from the EMS indicated that a call closely linked to Mahlokozi, was receive at 12:55 and an ambulance (already in the area) responded immediately and was at the designated location within fifteen minutes. However, there was no one to meet the ambulance so as to direct it to the patient. It appears as though the caller had understood a request for the emergency team to be met at the gate to mean that a patient should be brought to the gate," Daniels said.

Council today clarified reports that city ambulances "do not go into informal settlements". The city stated categorically that it did not have a policy that says ambulances cannot go into informal areas for whatever reason, but confirmed that poor lighting, lack of street names and in some instances tricky roads, sometimes proved challenging to locate patients.

To counter this difficulty, an arrangement was made in Diepsloot that escorts of the patients should meet emergency vehicles at the gate (an easy to locate main road at the entrance of the area). But this too has proven difficult for some residents who live long distances away from this destination.

Daniels said for this reason, it was important that a thorough consultation with the residents of Diepsloot was immediately embarked upon to ensure that a more suitable arrangement is put in place.

He said this process was required to be in place as a matter of urgency, saying: "We will be having meetings with the community to clearly determine areas where patients could be collected and ensure that these arrangements were commonly known by all."

ENDS.

For more information contact:

Mbangwa Xaba
Media Liaison
Tel: 407 7226
Fax: 403 3494
082 467 9230