BY FIONA MOTSA
Mbabane – In what will come as a boost to the country’s health system, MVA Chief Executive Officer David Mfanimpela Myeni today handed over six ambulances to the Ministry of Health.
This is a second donation that the fund has done to the ministry – an act that will boost transportation of patients from six health facilities.
The handing over took place at SMVA Office Park.
Myeni said he was delighted that they eventually got to meet and share the milestones achieved between the partnership between Fund and the Emergency Preparedness and Response Unit.
SMVAF Mandate
The SMVAF is a Public Enterprise created as an instrument through which the Government of Eswatini treats, rehabilitates and compensates victims of road traffic accidents.
“We are also actively involved in developing and implementing strategies for the prevention of road crash occurrence. Our enabling legislation, the SMVAF Act of 1991, which was amended in 2011 gives the Fund the mandate to prioritise treatment and rehabilitation of those injured. Prior to the 2011 amendment, the business model was focused mainly on compensation of road crash victims through lump sum payment,” stated the CEO.
New Business Operating Model
the CEO explained that subsequently, in 2020, they have changed their operating model to align with the Amendment Act.
He continued: “As such, we now run a proactive claims model which depends heavily on partnerships with stakeholders within the health space,”
Partnerships
He further mentioned that It is through such partnerships that the Fund established relations with EPR to collaborate in the reporting of road crashes, and immediate transportation of victims to the nearest health facility. He said this relationship was formalised through the signing of an MoU in July 2021, and the relocation of the EPR call centre traffic desk to the SMVAF Premises,
Golden Hour
according to the CEO, the ‘golden hour’ refers to the vital time when the road crash occurs through to when victims of crashes or trauma can be stabilised by trained emergency staff before they are given specialist medical attention at the nearest facility.
“I have come to understand that this period is very critical and often determines the trajectory the victim’s post-crash life will take. The golden hour is, therefore a pre-hospital event. The way in which a trauma care system is organised seems to influence the number of deaths after injury. Therefore, the pre-hospital phase should be viewed as the start of a continuum of care that forms a “trauma chain,” he said.
He stated that each link (i.e. evacuation from accident scene, trauma care in hospital through to rehabilitation and compensation) must work well for a crash victim to attain optimal outcome.
Fund Contribution
He said; “it is on the basis of the above, and as a result of our regular discussions among our teams, Fund’s Board management and staff found it necessary to procure six ambulances for purposes of assisting road crash victims across Eswatini roads. This brings the number to a total of eight Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulances, as we had already handed over two ambulances last year. To date, the value of the assistance stands at E13 600 000,”
Myeni mentioned that the availability of modern ambulances equipped with the latest medical equipment and technology will, undoubtedly, enable our EPR staff to get to accident scenes quicker and to handle the victims more effectively while transporting them to health facilities.
He said this addition to the existing EPR fleet will invaluably add EPR’s patient transport efficiency, safety, reliability and further enhance the department’s decentralisation efforts which are aimed at reducing the amount of time taken to respond to road crashes.
Seamless Sincephetelo Strategy 20/24
“Our proactive business Model, better known as Seamless Sincephetelo Strategy 20/24, relies heavily on partnerships with the health sector, particularly public hospitals, who are the responsible primarily for the treatment of road crash victims, upon evacuation from the crash scene,” he said.
He continued: “I am happy to declare that we value our working relationships with public hospitals and we are in the process of finalising a MoU with the ministry, which will formalise and provide clear roles and parameters for all parties. We also continue to engage hospitals with the view to strengthen patient care and identify gaps that may hinder a good service delivery. We have also supported some of the institutions financially and otherwise over the past two years,”
Contribution to Hospitals
On another note, Myeni handed over 40-wheel chairs that he said will be placed in hospital wards that cater for orthopaedic patients.
Accident Prevention
Speaking on accident prevention, Myeni said their recently established Accident Prevention and Public Education unit is already driving a number of interventions in this area in collaboration with stakeholders.
“And as an added deterrent to the occurrence of accidents due to negligent driving, we have also started the process or recoveries, an activity deriving from the MVA Act. This exercise, driven by our Legal Department, seeks to recover monies paid as compensation to victims, as a result of gross negligence by a particular driver. These initiative are an addition to other awareness campaigns we have rolled out in the past aimed at raising public awareness on road safety,” he said.
