SA Red Cross Air Mercy Service appoints first black CEO

FARHAAD Haffejee will make history when he takes the reins as the first black CEO of the SA Red Cross Air Mercy Service (AMS) in January.

He will be the first black CEO to lead the organisation in its 55 years of existence.

“It is a wonderful feeling to have your work and achievements recognised by such a special appointment to lead such an incredible organisation,” said Haffejee.

“I feel honoured and privileged to be able to be given this opportunity to lead this organisation.”

Outgoing CEO Dr Philip Erasmus will step down after more nine years at the helm. He has been with the company for the past 24 years. The board of trustees of the aero-medical rescue organisation announced on Monday that it had identified Haffejee as the incoming CEO to succeed Erasmus.

Erasmus said he was delighted that the board of trustees has appointed Haffejee as his successor.

“I have no doubt that Farhaad will take the organisation to new heights after many years of working closely with him and witnessing him flourish in a senior managerial role, as well as having an in-depth awareness of the complexities of our organisation and our business environment. Just, appropriate, and well-deserved. I wish him all the best with his new responsibilities.”

AMS was started by the South African Red Cross Society and formed into an independent trust in 1994. It has grown into a comprehensive aero-medical service with a service delivery model using volunteers, professionals and partnerships with various

departments and organisations.

Haffejee, currently the AMS co-operative development manager, has been with the organisation for the past 17 years and holds various degrees, which include a Master’s in Public Health. He is completing an MBA at Henley Business School, University of Reading in the UK.

His appointment comes at a critical moment as the organisation is at a crossroads in the Covid-19 pandemic. Members have been on the frontline and face a decline in funding.

“The funding environment has changed quite a bit. In order for the organisation to remain sustainable and continue to do the work that it does, we will need to be looking at how do we diversify our forms of income,” said Haffejee.

He added that his intention was to “go out there to find new partners locally and internationally”.

Another challenge is how the organisation navigates through Covid19, how they continue at the forefront of saving lives and embrace new technologies in the future.

AMS’s mission is to provide access to equitable health for all who need it, especially marginalised communities where access is limited. Haffejee said geographical access is a challenge for many communities. He used examples of villages in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, and said there was still a long way to go for people to enjoy the same access to health care.

“Those communities are still struggling, they are still not able to reach the access they require for basic services. Health care is enshrined in our Constitution as a basic human right.”

Haffejee added that his vision as CEO was to do as much as possible to plug the gap.

“It is unacceptable that elderly parents have to travel hundreds of kilometres to seek health care and when they get to that point, they do not get the care they deserve.”

Besides rescue services, the Red Cross also do outreach programmes where they take specialised care from urban areas to rural areas. They also do inter-hospital transfers of the critically ill patients.

With the festive season approaching, Haffejee said they were well prepared, and had been so since January, as they work 365 days, 24 hours a day. Summer months are the busiest time with rescues in the Western Cape.

“People see these mountains in the centre of the city and think, ’Ah, let’s take a walk-up’. They go up ill-prepared and they get stuck.”

He believes there is a need for educating the public about the dangers of climbing mountains and taking walking trails without being fully prepared.