[imagesource: YouTube / Carte Blanche]

Unless you’ve had your head buried in the sand, you’ll know that life is tough in Mitchells Plain.

It’s estimated that around 20 gangs operate in the area and the SAPS Anti-Gang Unit appears largely powerless to protect the community from these criminal enterprises.

In recent months, the city’s gangs have been at war as they battle for control of lucrative turf and some areas have been labelled “red zones”. This means ambulances cannot freely travel without a police escort, with paramedics having come under attack, at times to prevent them from offering potentially life-saving treatment after a gang shootout.

The above is just a tiny part of why those who work so hard to save lives should be hailed as heroes.

To better understand what they go through each night in Cape Town’s busiest emergency centre, Carte Blanche rolled out the cameras:

A man is rushed into the emergency unit, battling to breath. He urgently needs oxygen but, in his state of confusion, is fighting off the doctors. Moments later, a teenager is wheeled in with multiple stab wounds – earlier left for dead in a pool of water on a freezing night.

Battling fatigue and sometimes violent patients, this is the Mitchells Plain Emergency Unit where inexperienced doctors become trauma specialists. Carte Blanche spends a night, watching these selfless doctors desperately trying to save lives.

It’s an uphill battle, and often a thankless task given the constant stream of new patients that require treatment as somebody is sent home.

Here’s the segment that aired this past Sunday:

[source:carteblanche]