A health workers’ union is preparing to ask the Health Professions Council of South Africa to investigate ambulance capacity in Nelson Mandela Bay, saying too few properly equipped vehicles are available for emergency calls.
The Health and Other Services Personnel Trade Union of South Africa, known as Hospersa, says official fleet numbers do not reflect how many ambulances can actually be dispatched with the necessary staff and medical equipment.
The warning follows reporting by News24 and MedicalBrief on shortages affecting the metro and the wider Eastern Cape. The provincial health department has previously disputed the scale of the problem and has counted 31 of Nelson Mandela Bay’s 40 ambulances as operational.
Dispute centres on what counts as operational
Hospersa’s Eastern Cape organiser, Thembisa Witbooi, said a vehicle parked at a depot should not automatically be treated as available. An ambulance also needs a crew, stretcher, medicines and working emergency equipment before it can respond safely.
MedicalBrief reported that provincial figures showed 211 of the Eastern Cape’s 350 ambulances were grounded, leaving 139 listed as operational. In Nelson Mandela Bay, workers and the union disputed the department’s figure of 31 operational vehicles, saying the number ready for dispatch could be far lower on some shifts.
The department had not published a new detailed breakdown of staffed and fully equipped vehicles by Sunday morning. Hospersa’s planned complaint is therefore an escalation of the dispute, not a regulatory finding that standards have been breached.
The HPCSA’s emergency-care structures can receive complaints and consider evidence concerning professional practice and patient safety. Any investigation would need dispatch records, staffing rosters, maintenance information and equipment checks rather than relying only on the number of vehicles registered to the fleet.
Why ambulance availability matters
Emergency calls involving serious trauma, breathing difficulty, stroke symptoms or cardiac arrest are time-sensitive. A shortage of dispatch-ready ambulances can extend waiting times, force hospitals to rely on transfers from other areas and leave families searching for private transport.
The problem is not new. In August 2025, the Eastern Cape Department of Health confirmed that staffing shortages meant Nelson Mandela Bay could run only 15 ambulances despite having 36 vehicles available. The department said it had to seek assistance from private providers.
Hospersa now wants an independent assessment of the current service. The union has not claimed that every delayed call resulted in harm, and no such conclusion should be drawn without patient-level evidence.
Residents facing a medical emergency should continue using the official ambulance number, 10177, or 112 from a mobile phone. Callers should give the exact location, a working contact number and a brief description of the emergency, then follow the dispatcher’s instructions.
The next verifiable step is whether Hospersa lodges the complaint and whether the regulator or Eastern Cape health authorities release a detailed response. Until then, the union’s warning remains a serious claim awaiting formal examination.
