There are no ambulance services in Cosmo City in the north of Johannesburg. This after the city’s Emergency Management suspended its services to the area, following an incident in which ambulance personnel were attacked and their vehicle vandalised on Saturday.

The ambulance personnel were responding to an alleged assault case.

Naidoo says EMS provides a necessary service. “EMS provides a vital service and contributes to what we want to see in terms of universal health service.”

“We’re often going to the most vulnerable populations and treating those types of patients. So what we have seen in the more recent years, it’s almost like it’s opportunistic crime, it’s usually happening in areas where there’s poverty, high substance abuse, gangsters and so on,” he adds.

Meanwhile, the South African Emergency Personnel Union says paramedics should consider some places no-go areas until the relevant authorities guarantee their safety.

The union’s president Mpo Mpogeng says: “Our members were saying let’s stop the service, specifically during the night, because we are not safe during the night. But if you think about destitute community members who are in desperate need of ambulances, obviously you might not quickly make such decisions. So that is why we decided to wait and engage them because they have powers, we don’t have powers, we can’t change anything. We are trying our level best to engage them.”

SABC News