The Star reports that paramedics have been described as “sitting ducks" following a wave of violent attacks on emergency services personnel across the country in recent weeks.
The SA Emergency Personnel’s Union (Saepu) has threatened to withdraw the services of its members, especially at night. Union spokesperson Makuwa Kgaladi said on Sunday: “We are shocked and deeply disappointed by the escalating attacks on paramedics across the country.” Meantime, the City of Johannesburg has decided to withdraw its services from Cosmo City because at the weekend when paramedics attended to an assault case there, the community turned against them and damaged their new vehicle. Emergency services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said the paramedics and the patient managed to leave the area unharmed. He indicated that the crowd had wanted to torch the patient in a vigilante attack as they believed he had murdered someone in the community. The vehicle was one of 48 new ambulances that the city put into rotation two weeks ago to replace an ageing fleet. This was the second attack on paramedics in Joburg in a week. On Wednesday, paramedics were robbed of their belongings after they responded to an emergency in Soweto. Kgaladi observed: “We are tired of talking about the same thing every day and here we are talking about people’s lives. Health MECs need to start taking the EMS unit seriously because what we are witnessing now is very unfortunate. We are going to withdraw our services during the night until we are sure that our EMS workers are protected.”
- Read the full original of Tebogo Monama’s report on the above story at The Star
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page