By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers has come to the aid of the families of the victims killed and those who were injured in the Boksburg gas tanker explosion.
Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman said, “We have put the services of our partner ambulance, Medi Response, on standby and will fund any ambulances required. Congratulations to the health and emergency services, SAPS, fire fighters and the neighbouring community for their incredible response, Gift of the Givers will also be funding all consumables and general supplies, He said.
“Gift of the Givers specialist teams are hard at work to track and purchase burn dressings, antibiotics for when sepsis sets in, analgesia, anaesthetics, pain delivery pumps, cleaning agents, special nutritional feeds, nasogastric pumps and related consumables. These will go to various public hospitals where the injured have been transported to,” he said.
“There will also be non-medical support for fire fighters, health care workers, staff, patients and families in the form of bottled water, energy drinks, energy bars, biscuits, chocolates, fruit.”
Sooliman said several other organisations have also assisted in the relief efforts.
The organisation’s trucks will also serve as a storage site on the hospital grounds.
Meanwhile the South African Medical Association (Sama) has confirmed that patients involved in a gas explosion were evacuated from the Tambo Memorial Hospital’s emergency unit to public and private healthcare facilities for treatment.
The move comes after several people were injured on Saturday morning when a truck tanker carrying gas caught alight in Boksburg, killing nine and injuring several others.
Sama spokesperson, Dr Mvuyisi Mzukwa, said Tambo Memorial Hospital had to move patients that were already there and could not accommodate new ones.
“The doctors only stabilised new patients before transferring them to other institutions. They asked other hospitals to accept them directly from ambulances,” he said.
“We have been informed that patients were transferred to [private] hospitals. This is an emergency, and it has to be attended by public and private hospitals, whoever is closest to the incident.”
Mzukwa said the association had not received reports confirming if any doctors died or sustained injuries due to the explosion.