Volunteer emergency services workers are sounding the alarm over widespread failures in Gauteng’s trauma care system after battling for hours to keep a critically injured patient alive while searching in vain for a hospital bed.
Pretoria Volunteer Emergency Services (PVES) founder Hugo Minnaar said crews responded to a pedestrian accident in Pretoria on Saturday night, only to find every major hospital overwhelmed, forcing workers to deliver advanced life-saving treatment inside an ambulance as oxygen and medication supplies ran dangerously low.
Emergency crews forced into prolonged roadside care
“Upon arrival, crews found an adult patient in an extremely critical condition after apparently being struck by a car,” he said.
“The motorist reportedly fled the scene. Due to the severity of the injuries, PVES members immediately requested additional advanced critical care support.
“Emergency crews administered life-saving medication and intravenous infusions in an attempt to stabilise the patient’s blood pressure, control bleeding, temperature control by the easywarm blanket and monitor the bilateral intravenous access that was already established.
“PVES members performed advanced airway management to control breathing. Once the patient’s condition had been stabilised, the patient was placed on artificial ventilation through endotracheal intubation procedure to take over respiratory function due to the extent of the head injury.”
Minnaar said after ambulances didn’t arrive after 80 minutes, medical response Aura SA authorised a private ambulance to transport the patient.
Hospitals reportedly unable to admit patient
He said multiple hospitals were contacted to secure definitive care for the patient, including Steve Biko Academic Hospital, Pretoria Academic Hospital, Tembisa Hospital, Mamelodi Regional Hospital and Kalafong Hospital.
“All facilities were either operating at full capacity or unable to accept the patient due to critical resource limitations,” he said.
“Kalafong Hospital additionally experienced [computed tomography] scanner limitations, preventing acceptance of a severe trauma patient requiring immediate neurological imaging.”
Minnaar said for about three hours, emergency personnel were forced to continue critical care treatment inside the ambulance while searching for a facility that could admit the patient.
“During this time, oxygen supplies and emergency medications began to run low due to the prolonged out-of-hospital management of the patient,” he said.
Healthcare system under growing strain
According to Minnaar, this incident highlights a concerning and ongoing crisis within emergency and trauma health care systems in Gauteng.
“Critically injured patients cannot be safely managed for prolonged periods inside ambulances, while hospitals remain unable to accommodate emergency admissions due to overcrowding, resource shortages, or infrastructure limitations,” he said.
“There is also no air support to transport patients to Johannesburg trauma units. While hospital staff and medical personnel continue to work tirelessly under extremely difficult circumstances, the lack of available beds, specialist resources and operational equipment places patients and emergency responders under severe pressure and significantly affects patient outcomes.”
Department urged to address chronic hospital shortages
DA Gauteng shadow health MEC Jack Bloom said he has referred this incident to Gauteng health department‘s acting head Dr Darion Barclay.
“There is a shortage of beds for emergencies at all our hospitals, which is reducing the life chances of critically injured patients,” said Bloom.
“There is extra pressure on Steve Biko Academic Hospital because the casualty unit at Tembisa Hospital was destroyed by fire last year. So their emergency patients are diverted to other highly pressured hospitals.”
Bloom said it was always worse in winter, but is a chronic problem that the department was not taking steps to rectify.
The Gauteng department of health had not responded to questions by the time of publication.
