By Obakeng Maje

Mahikeng-North West Department of Health for the first in history show-case it’s EMRS Helicopter that will service critically injured patients in the District. 

North West Health Department unveiled Emergency helicopters today. 

“I have made it clear in my 2012/13 Budget Speech that we are going to take advantage of the national tender RT79 to get an emergency helicopter to augment our fleet of Emergency Medical Rescue Services vehicles”. 

“I am proud to announce that the helicopter has arrived and ready to service our people” Dr Magome Masike said. 

Dr Masike said the development comes as they chart ways to aggressively respond to the plight of the communities and improve its response time. 

In line with the Primary Health Care Re-engineering Programme, we are on course to Reengineer Emergency Medical Services to improve the response times of ambulances to all communities to be in line with national targets he said. 

The Department decentralized EMRS in 2007. 

This development together with acquisition of new ambulances has helped to improve response time as emergency vehicles are now placed closer to the communities they serve. 

“We are also planning to establish and fund Emergency Medical Rescue Services satellite stations in the districts to uncompromisingly improve our reaction time” said Masike. 

The aeromedical service has been awarded for a period of two years and the service provider is a joint venture between ER24 and Halo Aviation and the cost of the service will be around R750 000 per month. 

This will include the lease of the helicopter, provision of a pilot and one advanced life support paramedic. 

“An additional paramedic will be from our Emergency Medical Rescue Service Training College in Orkney. 

“We have contracted 30 flying hours per month” said Masike.

Klerksdorp Tshepong Hospital Complex is the main hospital in the North West province providing some tertiary services and a larger number of secondary services.  

As a result, our regional hospitals regularly refer patients in need of specialized care to the hospital. 

“Due to the vastness and the rural nature of our province it is more frustrating for a sick patient who has to travel long hours to receive specialized care” Dr Magome Masike adds.  

The acquisition of this helicopter will ensure that emergency transfers from rural areas are done quickly, as this will cut down on the normal long driving hours”. An emergency hospital transfer from Vryburg to Klerksdorp will now be completed within two hours whereas previously it would take up to six hours. 

He said aeromedical service will not only be used to respond to emergencies; it will also be used for specialized services to remote areas.  

In cases where some of our patients in remote areas are in urgent need of specialized services, a specialist will be sent to them via aero medical services.  

Specialised Outreach Teams will also be able to utilize the service to conduct outreach programmes in remote rural areas, thereby implementing the concept of Batho Pele Principles to the latter said MEC. 

The service will be accessed through normal emergency procedure of contacting the emergency medical service call centre on 10177 toll free number for any emergency. 

“Our communication centre will determine the nature of the incident and ensure that the correct mode of transport is dispatched to the scene of emergency” he said. 

The helicopter can also be called to an emergency by paramedics on an accident scene or Doctors at a healthcare facility who wants to transfer a patient to another hospital as a matter of urgency.

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