The City of Johannesburg's Emergency Management Services says it is concerned about attacks on its paramedics‚ following two separate incidents at the weekend, reports The Times.
On Saturday night at around 7pm‚ ambulance crews based at the Northview Fire Station were shot at while attending to an assault case in Sandringham‚ said EMS spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi. Fortunately‚ he said‚ they survived the incident unharmed.
On Sunday night at around 6pm‚ four paramedics based at the Eldorado Park Fire Station were attacked by members of the community. They had responded to an emergency call about a woman who was killed during an alleged assault by her boyfriend in Freedom Park. "Angry community members started attacking the boyfriend of the deceased. Paramedics were injured while trying to intervene to stop the angry crowd."
Mulaudzi is quoted in the report as saying: "On a weekly basis in the City of Johannesburg‚ we hear of reports of incidents where Emergency Services personnel are attacked/hijacked/robbed of their belongings while rendering an essential service to our communities.
"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‚ because this behaviour not only creates fear and panic to the paramedics‚ it also affects our response times to emergencies and also disrupts service delivery to our communities… Protect us while we do what we do best – rendering effective professional emergency services to all the residents of the City of Johannesburg."
[link url="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2018-04-23-johannesburg-ambulance-crews-come-under-attack-twice-at-weekend/"]The Times report[/link]