The City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services has noted with concern the escalation of the number of incidents where their staff members are attacked while on duty.
In a statement issued on 23 April by the emergency services’ spokesperson, Robert Mulaudzi, the City of Johannesburg has condemned such acts of violence, especially on people who provide an essential service.
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According to Mulaudzi, paramedics are being hijacked or robbed while rendering essential services to the residents throughout the City of Johannesburg.
He said on 21 April late at night, an emergency management ambulance crew based at the Northview Fire Station was shot at while attending to an assault case in Sandringham.
The crew, fortunately, survived the incident unharmed, said Mulaudzi.
Read: BREAKING: Paramedics held at gunpoint and robbed while working
“On a weekly basis in the City we hear of reports of incidents where emergency services personnel are attacked, hijacked or robbed of their belongings while rendering an essential service to our communities,” he said.
“Earlier this year an ambulance based at the Hunters Hill Fire Station was attacked with a patient on board when a community member threw a brick into an on-coming ambulance while [its crew was] attending to an incident in the Honeydew informal settlement.”
At that time, Mulaudzi said both rear doors of the ambulance were damaged, however, the paramedics and the patient survived the incident unharmed.
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“We cannot afford situations where we have no-go areas, communities must work together with us to remove these few criminal elements within our communities by reporting them to the police. This behaviour does not only create fear and panic to the paramedics but it also affects our response times to emergencies and also disrupts service delivery to our communities,” he said.
“We call on our communities to protect us while we do what we do best – rendering effective professional emergency services to all the residents of the City of Johannesburg.”
Details: Robert Mulaudzi 011 222 8288.
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