While several non-operational ambulances lie parked off in a field near a cemetery in Wentworth in Durban, residents suffer long response times and have to resort to paying for e-hailing services or getting urgent assistance from their neighbours.

This is according to community activist and member of the Wentworth Hospital Committee, Andrè de Bruin, who has closely monitored the state of local emergency services.

De Bruin said all the ambulances park on that field, and those that are not being used have been there for “ages”. He said some are not even recognisable because of the amount of dust that has collected on the vehicles.

“No vehicle, especially an emergency vehicle, should be there that long. I would say the most an emergency vehicle should be off the road is a week. If you go there now and count the number of vehicles that are there, you’ll be horrified,” he said.

De Bruin further explained that a resident from any community, even Westville, would be lucky to get a provincial ambulance within an hour. “Likewise, the provincial hospitals have deteriorated to such an extent, so have the ambulance services, their parallel deterioration to such an extent that it’s the normal person who has no medical aid that’s left to die.”

Based on his experience as a community activist in Wentworth, De Bruin said this is happening on a daily basis.

“People would rather phone an Uber or the neighbour next door to rush them to Wentworth Hospital. They’d rather fork out that R30 for an Uber or R50 because they know that the ambulance is not going to arrive anytime soon,” he said, adding that if someone were to call the hospital right now, they would be lucky if someone answered.

De Bruin further explained that in recent months, he had organised two marches to the hospital, there was an oversight visit by the provincial legislature, the medical ombud visited the hospital as well, and they had a new hospital board put in place for about four months, but nothing has changed.

“I’m part of the Wentworth Hospital Committee (WHC) and one of the leaders who organised the two recent marches to the hospital, and nothing has changed with the hospital and the ambulance services. It just deteriorated and is worse,” he said.

The greater Wentworth, Bluff, Clairwood, and Merebank communities are left to die, he said.

“I think that the KZN Department of Health should privatise or outsource the ambulance service. If they did this on Monday, by Friday, you would find not one ambulance in that yard broken down. The turnaround time would be a maximum of half an hour’s driving time from the base to your home. That’s what the MEC should do, outsource, privatise the ambulance service, and then they will see.”

De Bruin cautioned that a significant improvement in ambulance services would be ineffective if hospital quality remains poor. Simultaneous improvements are necessary.

In a response to a Parliamentary question last month, Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi revealed that as of 25 April 2025, the current ambulance fleet in KwaZulu-Natal is 480, including 240 that are not in operation.

Patients from the surrounding communities of the Bluff, Merebank, and Wentworth have complained about poor service at the hospital for years.

According to reports, due to budget limitations, the KwaZulu-Natal Emergency Medical Services (EMS) reported to the KZN Legislature Health Portfolio Committee in February that they lacked a sufficient number of emergency vehicles to adequately meet the existing demand.

A report stated that fleet management interventions led to faster vehicle maintenance in the Amajuba, eThekwini, ILembe, and Ugu districts, subsequently improving response times.

Despite successes in some areas, other districts faced difficulties due to an existing fleet management contract, leading to delays and prolonged unavailability of emergency vehicles. The Department of Health (DOH) reported that the vehicle management service provider was instructed to expand its network of service providers and enhance oversight of fleet operations.

The EMS has provision to procure a total of 42 new ambulances, eight new priority patient transport service (PPTS) vehicles, and two rapid response vehicles, which have been ordered, stated the department.

Portfolio Committee chairperson Dr Imran Keeka said that on oversight visits, they found that service providers were taking too long to repair EMS vehicles.

The KZN Department of Health has been approached for comment.

This is a developing story.

karen.singh@inl.co.za

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