According to the Department of Health and Wellness, on this past New Year’s weekend, fewer emergency calls were made than over the Christmas long weekend.
From midnight on Friday 30 December, to 10am Tuesday, 3 January, 41 emergency centres in the Western Cape dealt with 3,534 trauma cases. Medical centres across the province also dealt with 9,555 non-trauma patients.
The previous weekend, the Christmas long weekend, saw the department receive 10,245 calls.
Out of the cases, there were 920 stabbings, 767 blunt assaults, 117 motor vehicle-related injuries, 136 pedestrian-related injuries, 65 gunshot wounds, 762 accidental injuries and 75 self-harm injuries.
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Provincial Health and Wellness spokesperson Mark van der Heever says: “Though preparedness plans for our facilities are in place, preventable trauma cases always place additional pressure on them.”
Most of the reported cases were dealt with at Delft Community Health Centre (CHC), Kraaifontein CHC, Paarl Hospital, Gugulethu CHC, and Khayelitsha Hospital.
“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,” says Van der Heever.
“Our Search and Rescue teams also responded to 17 incidents, of which nine were on Table Mountain.”
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Picture: Capeetc