Bulawayo remains overstretched in ambulance services

The Sunday News

The Bulawayo City Council says it remains overstretched in the ambulance services and urged residents, particularly those on medical aid, to consider using other local service providers to reduce the pressure.

Chamber secretary Sikhangele Zhou said the city needs more ambulances to cater to the ballooning population.

She said the rescue services normally have six ambulances on call for both emergency and non-emergency cases.

“We still need more new ambulances, but we can assure our patients that our current fleet is well equipped,” she said while addressing a stakeholders engagement meeting.

“We are not saying those on medical should not call our services, but it helps to reduce on our services.”
Zhou said with the high demand, the council is sometimes forced to prioritise emergency services such as road traffic accidents.

“We end up giving priority to road traffic accidents, or those who are in medical facilities, and they have complications and need transfer to major hospitals. We prioritise such cases before we do home removals,” Zhou said.

She also urged maternity patients to plan for alternative ambulance services since they have ample time to do so during the pregnancy. -New Ziana