WITH 36 new ambulances and seven primary response vehicles added to its fleet, Ekurhuleni Emergency Services will improve its services to communities.
The executive mayor, Clr Mzwandile Masina officially presented the vehicles, valued at R34-million, to the hundreds of community members who attended the function at Leon Ferreira Fire Station in Boksburg on August 26.
The emphasis is on the sustainability of quality service delivery together with improved and quicker response times to medical emergency calls.
After the launch, vehicles were handed over to the 29 station managers, who drove them away to their respective stations to start the operation with immediate effect.
The DA welcomed the purchase of the new vehicles.
“Although the purchasing of the ambulances is a step in the right direction, there is still a long way to go to ensure sufficient and effective emergency response to the community,” Clr Dean Stone, DA shadow MMC for community safety, said in a statement.
“The 36 new ambulances, combined with the 40 old ones currently in service, is still 200 vehicles short of what the metro actually requires to provide a decent service to the citizens of Ekurhuleni.
“The metro’s purchase of the ambulances highlights the desperate need for emergency services as the supply of ambulances is a competency of provincial government whose support is no longer reliable. I will continue to pressurise provincial government to ensure they provide the expected grant to obtain the additional ambulances needed to service the emergency needs of the metro,” Stone said.
