There are only 12 working
public ambulances in the whole of Swaziland / Eswatini to serve 1.1 million
people as the government fails to maintain them.
It has bought no new
ambulances since 2013.
Director of the Emergency
Preparedness Response Department under the Ministry of Health, Masitsela
Mhlanga told media there were 20 broken-down ambulances in garages that were
not being repaired.
The Times
of Swaziland reported on
Friday (15 June 2018) the country was ‘heading for an imminent peril’.
It reported, ‘Speaking on
national radio yesterday morning, Mhlanga said the department was struggling to
reach out to the nation due to the shortage of ambulances.’
It added, ‘Mhlanga said the
department suffered a great consequence when the ambulances were taken to CTA
[Central Transport Administration garages] for repairs because they took too
long to return on the road yet there was a high demand for health services.’
He said Swaziland last
received new ambulances in 2013 and their service warranties had now expired.
‘He suggested that
government should provide another garage that would specialise in the
ambulances so that the services would not be disturbed by the delays at the
State garage,’ the Times reported.
It added, ‘It was also
gathered that another challenge was that at times, the motor vehicles were not
properly fixed which resulted in them developing mechanical faults while
transporting patients.
The Times reported, ‘Last week, it was reported that an ambulance door
was tied with bandages to prevent it from opening while paramedics were
ferrying patients to health centres at Dumako area. “Ambulances operate 24
hours so they should be serviced regularly,” Mhlanga said.’
It added, ‘He revealed that
some work stations had no ambulances at all yet they were expected to provide
services to the nation. “People are sick, and accidents happen every day so it
is not good for the ministry to run short of ambulances,” he said.’
Last week Finance Minister
Martin Dlamini told the Swazi House of Assembly that Swaziland
was broke and the kingdom was running out of cash. Government
suppliers go unpaid and arrears stand at E3.28 billion (US$240 million), he
said.
Despite the financial
meltdown the Government
paid US$30 million to buy Swaziland’s absolute monarch King Mswati
III his second private jet plane. It was delivered days ahead of his 50th
birthday on 19 April. On that day at a party he wore a watch
worth US$1.6 million and a suit weighing
6 kg studded with diamonds.
On 4 June
2018 the government presented the King with a birthday gift described
by the Swazi Observer as a
‘luxurious lounge suite trimmed with gold’. In addition, the Queen Mother gave
him a dining
room suite made of gold.
He also received cheques from companies and organisations in his kingdom worth
at least E15 million.
Meanwhile, seven in ten of the 1.1 million population
live in abject poverty with incomes less than the equivalent of US$2 per day.
The global charity Oxfam named Swaziland as the most unequal country in the
world in a report
that detailed the differences in countries between the top most earners and
those at the bottom.
This month it was reported that children
collapsed with hunger in their school because the government had not
paid for food for them. The kingdom had previously been warned to expect
children to starve because the Swazi Government had not paid its
suppliers for the food that is distributed free of charge at schools. The
shortage is reported to be widespread across the kingdom.
Medicines, including vaccines against polio and tuberculosis have run
out in many government hospitals and clinics because drug suppliers have not
been paid. In June 2017, Senator
Prince Kekela told parliament that at
least five people had died as a result of the drug shortages. About US$18
million was reportedly owed
to drug companies in May 2017.
See also
SWAZILAND
ADMITS IT IS BROKE
KING
EATS OFF GOLD, CHILDREN STARVING
https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/06/king-eats-off-gold-children-starving.html
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