'Overburdened' Western Cape hospitals need more resources to assist with high murder rate - MEC
30 July 2019
Western Cape Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo says the demand for health care services outweighs the demand and, as a result, more resources are needed to deal with the high crime and murder rate.
Mbombo was briefing journalists in Cape Town on key updates in her department.
Asked about capacity to provide health care services to victims of crime, given that 71 murders were reported in the province over the past two weekends, Mbombo said hospitals across the province were "overburdened", and had been inundated with requests from people requiring services.
Western Cape Premier Alan Winde on Monday reported that a total of 46 people had been murdered over the weekend, with 21 shootings, 20 stabbings and five murders by other causes - an increase from the 25 murders recorded by the province's forensics services the previous weekend.