Ninety-five percent of gun trauma calls attended to by the metro’s Emergency Medical Services since Easter were for scenes in the northern areas.
Recorded calls to the EMS headquarters at Dora Nginza Hospital show that the Port Elizabeth ambulances now receive more call-outs for shooting incidents than for any other trauma, including car accidents.
In less than two months EMS ambulance crews have found 20 patients dead as a result of gunshot wounds.
Gun calls in Motherwell over the same period numbered five, with none in Uitenhage and Despatch.
Nelson Mandela Bay EMS head Brenhan Metune said that over the Easter period ambulances were called to 24 accident scenes and 42 shootings.
The shootings were broken down as follows, according to EMS reports:
● April 15: Four – none dead;
● April 16: Seven – one dead;
● April 17: Three – one dead;
● April 18: Two – none dead;
● April 19: Eight – two dead;
● April 20: Seven – one dead;
● April 21: Eight – two dead; and
● April 22: Three – none dead.
From the accident scenes, only two casualties were reported.
Metune also said that between May 7 and May 23 the EMS had attended to 35 shooting incidents, in five of which there were no patients needing help.
Neil Campher, who drew up future scenarios for the northern areas in 2014, said some of the factors which the Northern Areas People’s Development Initiative had taken into consideration at the time – including unemployment, teenage pregnancy and the failure to rectify public buildings and schools – had only worsened since then.