Emergency Assist 991 celebrates 13 years

Staff Writer | Thursday April 28, 2016 10:25

Pabalinga said that the company, which formerly started as Netcare 991, rebranded to Emergency Assist 991 in 2008 when the two Batswana shareholders bought out Netcare 911 South Africa, to make it a wholly citizen-owned outfit.

Emergency Assist 991, also known as EA 991, is an assistance company that offers pre-hospital care services that include both ground and air evacuation as well as roadside assistance services. Their services are accessed and controlled through their 24hr contact centre that is located at the Gaborone head office.

Pabalinga further stated that the company currently has a client base of over 55,000 subscribers spread throughout the country.

 Part of the company’s milestones was setting up EA 991 Namibia in 2010, to create the first ever Botswana-owned Emergency Medical Assistance Company that has an international operation.

Pabalinga said EA 991 Namibia has done a very commendable job for the Namibian government, having been instrumental in the establishment of a national emergency medical rescue service framework and furthermore managing eight ambulance branches for the Namibian Ministry of Health. In an effort to step up their capacity, EA 991 has recently acquired four new ambulances, one rapid response vehicle and two off-road 4X4 ambulances. EA 991 through its Aviation partner, Okavango Air Rescue operates a fully configured dedicated Bell Jetranger 206 III helicopter air ambulance as well a dedicated Pilatus PC12 air ambulance.

As a result of this expansion, this has seen the company increase its footprint in Botswana by opening three new branches on March 1, 2016 in Palapye, Maun and Jwaneng.

EA 991 enjoys a high degree of capacity that it had built over the years.  The company operates a fleet of 18 ambulances and eight roadside assistance vehicles that are placed at their seven branches in Botswana.

EA 991 Botswana has a total staff complement of 45, of which 40 are Batswana whilst in Namibia the company has 10 staff members. 

Pabalinga attributes his company’s success to their philosophy of always placing their customers at the heart of their business activities.  He said once you have a happy customer, the rest becomes incidental. “As a company, we always strive to go beyond customer expectations,” said Pabalinga.