Paramedics respond to 5136 incidents over New Year weekend

The Western Cape Government Health's Emergency Medical Services responded to 5 136 incidents in the Western Cape over the past weekend, down from 6 919 recorded last weekend. Paramedics attended to 67 transport-related incidents, including 20 involving motor vehicle crashes and 12 pedestrians in the Cape Metro region. Paramedics were also escorted by the South African Police Service (SAPS) to attend to incidents in Beacon Valley (49); Tafelsig (37), Hanover Park (36) and Chicago in Paarl (3).

The top ten incidents types EMS responded to included non-cardiac pain (840); respiratory complaints (778), COVID-19 (457), obstetric complaints (386), vomiting/diarrhea (255), abdominal complaints (248), weapon assaults (241), musculoskeletal complaints (238), neurological complaints (232), and fever (168).
 

Most patients were transported to the Tygerberg, Worcester and Groote Schuur Hospitals. 

EMS can also report that assault and transport-related incidents have reduced significantly during the New Year’s period, compared to the 2019 period. Assault incidents decreased by approximately 60% and transport-related incidents by 50%. We would like to thank the public for their responsible behaviour on New Year’s Eve. This ensured that our health facilities could better manage the burden of COVID-19 patients.

2020 has been a challenging year for EMS officials who had to square up to a pandemic, whilst several paramedics suffered physical assaults when providing an essential service (emergency medical care and patient transport) in vulnerable communities. These assaults compromise on-scene care, causes physical and psychological harm to officials, takes emergency vehicles out of service, and increases response times. We would like to thank the public for reporting these criminal acts to the law enforcement authorities.