The North West provincial government has reaffirmed its confidence in the North-West University (NWU), as one of its experts in the Faculty of Health Sciences now serves on the province’s Emergency Medical Service Advisory Committee (EMSAC).

Prof Andrew Robinson, deputy dean for strategy and business development in the faculty, was recently elected to serve as chairperson of EMSAC.

“It is common knowledge that the province’s emergency medical services have over the past few years been ‘troubled’ and were in effect functionally paralysed over this time,” says Prof Robinson.

“The provincial government has not been buying any new or replacement ambulances. They only have about 60 functional ambulances for the province, and the national norm is 1 per 10 000 of the population, so at least 180 additional new ambulances with crews are needed.”

Under the leadership of MEC Madoda Sambatha, and the newly appointed Deputy Director-General for Hospital and Clinical Support and Programmes, Polaki Mokatsane, a commitment to reform the emergency medical services has been given.

A summit for emergency medical services was held in 2019, and one of the resolutions adopted was to establish an advisory committee as part of the improved governance of the service.

Prof Robinson says, during the past four years, private emergency medical services companies have burgeoned, and it was also increasingly necessary to ensure their governance and regulation, which was another driver to get EMSAC established.

“The main duty of the committee is to advise the provincial Department of Health with recommendations regarding emergency medical services stations and companies, both public and private, for licensing approval.

“The advisory committee’s recommendation is based on an inspection of the qualifications of the emergency medical services staff, as well as the facilities, equipment, functionality and vehicles of a station or company, and, based on those findings, we will then make recommendations.”

Prof Robinson’s interest and involvement in emergency medicine grew from a number of areas:

• Out of necessity working as a medical officer in rural hospitals in KZN, and having to deal with whatever emergency that arrived, medical or surgical
• As a senior house officer in the United Kingdom, working at the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, Sussex (also a rural hospital)  
• As a public health medical registrar at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine in KZN
• As an instructor in the North West Department of Health’s basic emergency skills training course that was presented at the EMRS College in Stilfontein
• As an instructor to reserve force officers with the South African National Defence Force for the battlefield advanced trauma life support training of military paramedics.

NWU vice-chancellor Prof Dan Kgwadi, and the Premier of North West, Job Mokgoro, recently signed a memorandum of understanding to promote and foster improved mutually beneficial relations in the interest of improved service delivery to the province. Prof Robinson’s EMSAC appointment is aligned with this aim.

Prof Robinson adds that North West has an ideal venue in the proposed NWU Medical School to develop rural emergency medicine as a niche area.

The North West provincial Department of Health aims to officially launch the Emergency Medical Service Advisory Committee at a function in March.

Prof Andrew Robinson.