Cape Town - This past New Year’s weekend saw fewer calls to the province’s emergency services compared to the Christmas/Boxing Day long weekend.
The Department of Health and Wellness says during the New Year’s weekend, from midnight on Friday, December 30, to 10am yesterday, (Tuesday), 3 534 trauma cases presented to 41 emergency centres (ECs) across its facilities in the province. A further 9 555 patients required non-trauma medical care.
Just a weekend earlier, the department received 10 245 calls during the Christmas long weekend.
Top trauma cases were: 920 stabbings, 767 blunt assaults, 117 motor vehicle-related injuries and 136 pedestrian-related injuries, 65 gunshot wounds, 762 accidental injuries and 75 self-harm injuries.
Provincial Health and Wellness spokesperson Mark van der Heever said: “Though preparedness plans for our facilities are in place, preventable trauma cases always place additional pressure on them.”
Most of the reported trauma cases were seen within the Cape Metro at facilities such as Delft Community Health Centre (CHC) (201), Kraaifontein CHC (193), Paarl Hospital (171), Gugulethu CHC (164), and Khayelitsha Hospital (163).
Emergency Medical Services crews responded to 7 934 emergency calls across the province, with several attended in permanent identified Red Zones such as Beacon Valley (69), Tafelsig (69), Hanover Park (29) and Chicago (16).
“On our busy provincial roads, the EMS responded to 149 transport-related incidents, of which 69 involved pedestrians, 71 were light motor vehicles, four involved motorcyclists, three involved minibus taxis, and two involved cyclists.
“Our Search and Rescue teams also responded to 17 incidents, of which nine were on Table Mountain,” Van der Heever said.