Pretoria- Hoax emergency calls about fake life threatening incidents and traffic accidents are costing the North West Department of Health more than R5 million a month.
Health MEC, Dr Magome Masike, said hoax emergency calls jeopardise the work of Emergency Medical Rescue Services and threaten the lives of those at risk.
In December last year, the department received 11 113 emergency calls and 1 850 of those calls received turned out to be hoax calls.
A total of 1 258 hoax emergency calls were registered in Ngaka Modiri Molema alone while the Dr Kenneth Kaunda district recorded 510 hoax calls. Seventy two hoax calls were responded to in Bojanala Platinum district while Dr Ruth Segomotse Mompati district had 10 hoax calls.
Dr Masike said: "Hoax emergency calls jeopardise the vital work of all Emergency Medical Rescue Services and threaten the lives of the people they serve, which on another occasion could be the hoaxer self, friends or loved ones if they are the ones who need a rapid response from Emergency Medical Rescue team".
Although the department is able to mobilise back-up teams to genuine incidents, said the MEC, some delays unavoidable when seconds can make all the difference to the outcome of the rescue.
"Every hoax call the department attend puts people's lives at risk. And it also ties up already overstretched resources and emergency personnel," he said.
