Paramedics call for better protection

Medics Malcolm Saaiers and Johann van der Merwe at their ambulance with its new bright reflective green and yellow provincial colours.

Medics Malcolm Saaiers and Johann van der Merwe at their ambulance with its new bright reflective green and yellow provincial colours.

Published Feb 13, 2016

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Johannesburg - Joburg paramedics are often the victims of crimes and need trauma counselling after assisting at distressing crime and accident scenes - but they have to pay for this out of their own pockets.

Two paramedics who spoke to the Saturday Star on condition their names were withheld say the only treatment provided by their employers is counselling through the internal employee assistance programme department and the chaplaincy office.

The two furious men revealed this information a few hours after two fellow paramedics were held at gunpoint by a gang of five men in Hurst Hill while attending to a patient in the back of the ambulance early on Friday.

According to the two men, one of the paramedics was struggling to recover from the ordeal.

“This was his worst incident. He was attacked more than once last year and none of these counselling sessions helped him. What happened to him is sickening.

“At work, there are no follow-up sessions to check whether the person is fit enough to continue doing the job. The job is stressful and we are risking our lives to put food on the table for our families,” said one of the men.

Nothing was being done by management to protect the lives of paramedics.

A fellow paramedic said: “We are easy targets for criminals. We are unarmed when we go out on calls. In most cases they attack us and leave the patients unharmed.”

Johannesburg Emergency Management Service Management (EMS) spokesman Robert Mulaudzi said the allegations were not true.

“All these allegations are levelled by disgruntled members who haven’t experienced the attacks. Counselling is provided to our members until they are satisfied,” he said.

Friday’s attack came barely two weeks after three EMS paramedics were held at gunpoint while attending to a patient in an ambulance in Yeoville.

The DA in Joburg said it would propose to the mayoral committee member for public safety, Sello Lamao, that paramedics be given protection devices, such as pepper spray or stun guns. “I will be proposing immediate and urgent measures asking him to implement these measures before another paramedic is harmed,” said Michael Sun, the DA’s spokesman on public safety.

The Johannesburg Metro Police Department, which escorted paramedics responding to emergency calls in hot spots at night, also needed measures.

A meeting was held between EMS management and role-players, including the SAPS and JMPD, on Friday morning to discuss safety measures.

At least one incident a month is reported, according to Mulaudzi.

He said the organisation had givenemployees wearable panic buttons to improve their safety.

Saturday Star

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