KZN’s 100 'new' ambulances: MEC Dhlomo continues to mislead the people of our province
29 August 2018
Provincial Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo continues to mislead the people of KwaZulu-Natal by releasing statements which give false hope when it comes to healthcare services in the province.
The MEC’s latest publicity stunt - the announcement that his Department intends to add 100 new ambulances to its fleet, implies that there will be more vehicles and ultimately an improved service.
Yet the truth is that many of these vehicles are in fact replacements. This was confirmed to the KZN Health Portfolio Committee last week by the Department’s Uthukela district manager during an oversight visit to the area. The DA's own oversight visits to ambulance bases in KZN have also established this.
Effectively, what this means is that despite MEC Dhlomo’s announcement, there will be no extra ambulances in our service. To make matters worse, despite a total of R60.5 million having been budgeted for new ambulances for the current financial year, only 60 ambulances will be procured – an entirely different figure to that which he publicly pronounced this week. The number was confirmed during an earlier joint meeting of the province’s Health and Finance portfolio committees.