Triage — a South African Perspective

June 2004 Vol.22 No.6 CME 325 While an estimated 60 000 South Africans are murdered and die in road traffic accidents each year, at least 2.5 million cases of non-fatal injury require emergency care during the same period. This translates to about 66 trauma presentations per 1 000 population per annum. In South Africa the burden of non-trauma emergencies seeking medical care has not been formally estimated. However, since non-natural deaths account for only 15% of all deaths in this country, it is safe to assume that the annual medical emergency case load is at least as great as, or greater than, the estimated annual trauma case load. In addition, limited health care budgets place additional constraints on the number of emergency care personnel employed to deal with this overwhelming case load. Triage, the process of prioritising patients according to medical need, is a necessity in any system, but particularly in one facing these challenges.