The conference took place at the CPUT Bellville campus and was hosted by the Emergency Care Society of South Africa and CPUT’s Department of Emergency Medical Care.
MEC for Health in the Western Cape, Prof Nomafrench Mbombo, says the conference comes at an appropriate time.
Just a day before the conference commenced, emergency care practitioners in the Western Cape took to the street to voice their concerns over their safety. Over the past few months there has been an increase in attacks on emergency care practitioners who attend to emergencies in high risk areas.
Mbombo says an attack on any emergency care practitioner is a direct attack on her.
While Mbombo’s office is working closely with various other stakeholders to address these safety concerns, she says the conference provides the sector with a platform to debate these issues as well to provide input in the changes taking place in the health sector.
During the two day conference issues such as pre-hospital emergency care challenges, professional development and clinical advances were explored.
With a talk titled “Does Africa need ambulances,” Dr Julian Flemming from the Western Cape Department of Health raised concerns over the current emergency medical services.
Flemming says the sector faces various challenges such as ageing fleets, lack of funding and personnel, and full emergency rooms.
Flemming says to alleviate the problems facing overcrowding at emergency rooms, the sector must begin to explore alternative pre-hospital care options.
According to research, Flemming says 25% of patients that contact an ambulance do not need to be transported and treated at a hospital.
“We should look at on scene alternatives for emergency medical ambulance crews attending to patients who do not need to go to a hospital,” he says.
“The emergency rooms are full and we can’t get all the patients in the hospital.”
Dr Melanie Stander, Emergency Medicine Manager at MediClinic South Africa, discussed the future of the emergency medical care sector, which she says will be shaped by the development of health apps and telemetry.
“Patients are going to be empowered,” she says.
However, Stander says given the context in South Africa and the disparities between communities, technology must be used responsibility.
“Technology can help with the integration of services, but we have to be careful about quick fixes,” she says.
