LEBOGANG SEALE
J OBURG Emergency Management Services (EMS) is concerned about the safety of its paramedics after three of them were robbed in Soweto.
Two men and a woman had a GPS navigator, camera, cellphone and wallet stolen while responding to an emergency call in White City on Friday.
EMS spokesman Synock Matobako said they were very concerned about crimes against paramedics. He said the attacks might force EMS “to identify hotspots where we may not be too eager to respond to emergency calls”.
“We are very worried because we don’t carry firearms like the police and are thus a soft target. It really makes our job very difficult.”
He also said paramedics often received prank calls from people claiming to have medical emergencies.
“We depend on the community to protect us. We continue to get lots of prank calls. This wastes our time and disadvantages those patients in serious need of medical care,” he said.
EMS spokeswoman Nana Radebe said there had been numerous attacks on EMS members, although many were not reported because they were minor. She could not say how many.
In the White City incident, the paramedics had arrived at a house in Manne Street shortly after 2pm when the robbers struck. The had gone to attend to a patient who had suffered an epileptic fit.
“My colleagues went into a shack carrying a medical bag. I followed them carrying the stretcher,” said the man, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal. While the paramedics were carrying the patient to the vehicle, a woman alerted them to three robbers who had broken into their ambulance and run away.
They called for back-up and Joburg metro police were dispatched. In the meantime, two paramedics chased after the robbers, while the third attended to the patient. The paramedics were joined by some residents.
“We targeted the guy who was carrying a bag. He ran into a shack. He found the woman inside and ordered her to lock the door and not to scream,” the paramedic said. “When the residents entered the shack, he came out and ran straight towards me. He was aggressive and we wrestled. He tried to flee but the metro cops arrested him.”
The stolen items, except some cash, were found in the man’s possession. He appeared in the Protea Magistrate’s Court yesterday on charges of armed robbery and his case was postponed to next week. Two accomplices were still at large last night.
l In July, two paramedics responding to a call were stopped by a man who told them he knew where the patient was. They were led to the Diepkloof hostel, and beaten up and robbed.
l In March last year, a female paramedic was raped and her colleague attacked in Durban Deep, just outside Soweto.
The two female paramedics were attending to a toddler who had suffered burn wounds when two men forced them into the bushes, raped one of them and tried to rape the other.
A decision was taken to provide paramedics with GPS devices and to train them in self-defence. Ambulances were fitted with panic buttons.