Cape Town - It’s been a week since the ban on the sale of liquor was lifted and since then, there has been an increase in alcohol-related incidents at the province’s trauma units.
According to the provincial health department, over the weekend of May 29-31, there were 4092 total incidents compared to 3825 the previous weekend.
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) director, Dr Shaheem de Vries, said: “The Western Cape Government Health’s EMS responded to 5 041 incidents in the Western Cape over the past weekend. 30.27% of the calls were for P1 (Priority 1) incidents and 69.73% were for P2 (Priority 2) incidents. There were 144 incidents in red-zone areas and 125 transport-related incidents.
“The top 10 incident types included non-cardiac pain (688); weapon assault (650); respiratory complaints (607); obstetric complaints (377); neurological complaints (230); abdominal complaints (187); musculoskeletal complaints (186); forensic pathology (183); domestic accidental injury (168) and vomiting/diarrhoea (160).”
Meanwhile, the City’s Traffic Service recorded a steady increase in drunk driving arrests for the past two weekends after the lockdown alcohol ban was lifted.
Mayco member for safety and security JP Smith said: “During the lockdown levels where the purchase of alcohol was banned, our officers had a brief respite. Now that alcohol is more freely available, those numbers are starting to rise again This is placing a massive strain on our resources, because breathalyser tests are not allowed as a result of the health risks, so suspects have to get blood drawn, which takes time and resources.”
Smith said that during alert levels 5 and 4, when the sale of alcohol was banned, the City’s Traffic Service arrested only three people for drunk driving, compared to 575 during the same two months last year.
“This was a decrease in arrests of more than 99% for drunk driving alone. Other sectors that deal with trauma and the fall-out of alcohol abuse also reported a drop in numbers The weekend before the ban was lifted, three people were arrested and five this past weekend,” Smith said.
Drunk drivers were among 20 suspects arrested by the Traffic Service, which also impounded two vehicles and issued 21424 fines for infringements. Metro Police officers netted two suspects for illegal possession of drugs, an illegal firearm and ammunition. They also issued 230 fines for by-law and traffic contraventions.
@MarvinCharles17