DA calls on North West Health Dept to sell off scrap ambulances

2 June 2018

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will write to the North West MEC for Health, Dr Magome Masike, asking him to immediately dispose of the hundreds of scrap ambulances at the North West Health Department depot in Vryburg and Schweizer-Reneke.

On an oversight inspection last week Friday, the DA was shocked by the large number of scrap ambulances found at the depot.

Some of the ambulances could have been used but due to mismanagement of government resources the fleet of ambulances was left unused and gathering dust. See pictures here and here.

Many of the ambulances are now unsalvageable and can only be used for parts as this practice of dumping vehicles has continued for nearly a decade now. Our ambulance fleets in the Province are ageing and we need urgent intervention to either sell the old ambulances or to scrap them.

In March 2018, the Department of Health’s provincial report revealed that ambulances only reached 20% of people who needed urgent medical care and in many cases, ambulances did not even arrive.

And yet there are ambulances that could have been used to assist the sick and ailing patients, but due to a lack of oversight and mismanagement by the ANC government, many ambulances were left unused.

The DA calls on the MEC to take steps to recover money that was lost as a result of the mismanagement within the Department of Health.

The MEC should begin the process of disposing of these scrap ambulances by selling them off as this will help the department generate money that can be used in the restoration of health services in the province.

By selling the wrecks, the MEC will also help keep the environment clean as the depot where the old ambulances are kept has become a health hazard. It has become breeding grounds for rodents that overflow to the nearest township of Monisa.

The DA calls on the MEC for Health together with the appointed Administrator of the Department of Health, Jeanette Hunter, to demonstrate their commitment towards recovering funds which was lost due to bad management, state capture, and corruption.

The ANC can no longer be trusted to put the needs of our people first and deliver quality health services. The North West needs real Change that only a DA government can bring.

Issued by Tutu Faleni, Democratic Alliance Spokesperson on Health, 2 June 2018