IFP welcomes clamp down on ‘fly by night’ ambulance operators
"Fly-by-night private ambulance services have been hiding behind Section 27 (3) of the Constitution: Subsection 3 stipulates that nobody may be denied emergency services."
The IFP has welcomed the new regulations announced by the KZN Department of Health that will provide ambulance operators with a permit to operate for one year.
“We are pleased that the Department takes the needs of all patients seriously when they are reliant on making use of private ambulance services,” said Ncamisile Nkwanyana MPL, IFP KZN spokesperson on Health, in a statement to the Courier.
“In the current unregulated environment in the province, there has been nothing to ensure that both public and private emergency care services are manned by registered and adequately trained staff, with proper and adequate equipment.
“Fly-by-night private ambulance services have been hiding behind Section 27 (3) of the Constitution: Subsection 3 stipulates that nobody may be denied emergency services. However strangely, these unscrupulous operators rush for the pockets of the patients instead of saving lives.
“It is high time that the Provincial Health Department takes action in order to regulate private ambulance services.”
The Health Department in KwaZulu-Natal moved to regulate ambulance operators that will see each service provider given a permit to operate – with that permit only being valid for one year.
Any operator who continues to provide emergency care services without a licence shall be guilty of an offence and may be liable, upon conviction, to a fine of up to R500 000 or a jail term of up to five years, or both.
The license application fee is R8 000 per operator and the inspection fee is R2 000 per station; R300 per ambulance; R300 per response vehicle; and R500 per rescue vehicle.
The annual license renewal fee is R2 000 per operator; R300 per ambulance; R300 per response vehicle; and R500 per response vehicle.
There is also an additional R1 000 inspection fee per station.
Payment details will be provided by the licensing and inspectorate unit which is being established. Anyone may make representations for a waiver of any of the fees herein, in line with subparagraph 2 of regulation 19 of the Emergency Medical Services Regulations, 2017.
