Cape Town - The Western Cape department of health emergency medical services (EMS) said the long weekend had kept its first responders busy over the long weekend.
It has appealed to motorists to travel more slowly when approaching pedestrians and for pedestrians to wear visible clothing when walking next to the road.
This comes as paramedics responded to 47 incidents involving pedestrians in the Cape Metro.
Across the province, EMS personnel responded to 187 traffic-related incidents which include:
- Cape Metro - 92
- Cape Winelands - 35
- Garden Route - 27
- Overberg - 16
- West Coast - 12
- Central Karoo - 5
For the weekend, EMS personnel responded to 6 162 incidents in the Western Cape, of which 31% of cases were attributed to life-threatening conditions that required urgent treatment.
The main incidents included:
- Weapon assaults - 1 068
- Chest pain/discomfort - 931
- Respiratory complaints - 535
- Physical assaults - 494
- Obstetric complaints - 367
- Neurological complaints - 281
- Abdominal complaints - 247
- Domestic injuries - 237
- vomiting /diarrhoea - 261
- Musculoskeletal complaints - 206
The health department said from midnight on Friday, December 16, until 8.30am on Monday, 3 661 trauma cases were reported at 43 emergency centres across the province.
The majority of trauma cases were reported within the Cape Metro at facilities such as:
- Delft CHC - 220
- Kraaifontein CHC - 195
- Khayelitsha Hospital 194
- Tygerberg Hospital - 184
- Mitchells Plain Hospital - 168
- Gugulethu CHC - 167
- Paarl Hospital - 167
EMS personnel also treated 6 712 patients for non-trauma-related health care at emergency centres.
IOL