2 October 2014
This country is gone to the F****** dogs. Excuse my French but I am extremely furious. Earlier this afternoon, a young woman was riding with her colleagues down Goldman street when suddenly she passed out from an asthmatic attack. She was unable to breathe.. gasping for each breath. Desperately looking for help they stopped at the pharmacy. My colleagues and I carried her out of the vehicle on a stretcher and we quickly nebulized her and connected her to some oxygen. After about an hour she started coming around. She started responding to treatment. At the pharmacy we have a minimal emergency supply of oxygen and thus we knew that even if she came around she still needed to be hospitalized. We called Netcare 911. We were refused help point blank as the lady did not have any medical aid. When we called for a government ambulance firstly no one answered the phone. When we finally got through to someone we were told that there are no ambulances available. Make your own plan to get the patient to the hospital. We then called the Florida park fire department. The operator on duty told us that there are no ambulances available. By now I was damn furious. I was worried that the woman must not have another attack in the pharmacy.My colleague and I got into the car and drove to the Florida Park fire department. Guess what. We counted 12 ambulances parked off. There was a gentleman on duty who realized the seriousness of the situation and was quite appalled at what we were told on the phone. When we returned to the pharmacy the ambulance arrived.. but one hour later from when then the initial call was made. Take note that the Florida park fire department is literally a 4 minute drive from the pharmacy.Another patient who was purchasing his medication during the whole ordeal informed us that his colleague at work died from a heart attack only because the ambulance arrived 2 hours later. The idiot driving the vehicle did not know how the GPS system worked and so they were driving around in circles trying to find the address. Welcome to South Africa folks.......
This country is gone to the F****** dogs. Excuse my French but I am extremely furious. Earlier this afternoon, a young woman was riding with her colleagues down Goldman street when suddenly she passed out from an asthmatic attack. She was unable to breathe.. gasping for each breath. Desperately looking for help they stopped at the pharmacy. My colleagues and I carried her out of the vehicle on a stretcher and we quickly nebulized her and connected her to some oxygen. After about an hour she started coming around. She started responding to treatment. At the pharmacy we have a minimal emergency supply of oxygen and thus we knew that even if she came around she still needed to be hospitalized. We called Netcare 911. We were refused help point blank as the lady did not have any medical aid. When we called for a government ambulance firstly no one answered the phone. When we finally got through to someone we were told that there are no ambulances available. Make your own plan to get the patient to the hospital. We then called the Florida park fire department. The operator on duty told us that there are no ambulances available. By now I was damn furious. I was worried that the woman must not have another attack in the pharmacy.My colleague and I got into the car and drove to the Florida Park fire department. Guess what. We counted 12 ambulances parked off. There was a gentleman on duty who realized the seriousness of the situation and was quite appalled at what we were told on the phone. When we returned to the pharmacy the ambulance arrived.. but one hour later from when then the initial call was made. Take note that the Florida park fire department is literally a 4 minute drive from the pharmacy.Another patient who was purchasing his medication during the whole ordeal informed us that his colleague at work died from a heart attack only because the ambulance arrived 2 hours later. The idiot driving the vehicle did not know how the GPS system worked and so they were driving around in circles trying to find the address. Welcome to South Africa folks.......
