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HomeMedico-LegalKZN ambulance services' ultimatum to Road Accident Fund

KZN ambulance services' ultimatum to Road Accident Fund

The Road Accident Fund has been given an ultimatum to pay close to R10m owed to private ambulance operators in KwaZulu-Natal – or services will be cut, reports TimesLIVE. In a memorandum handed over to the RAF, the KwaZulu-Natal Private Ambulances Association (KZNPAA) threatened to withdraw its ambulances – belonging to more than 25 emergency medical services – unless its demands were met.

“Should you fail to meet our demands and deal decisively with this economic sabotage, we shall have no option but to return here on a more radical programme. Also, we shall withdraw our ambulances, without any further notice. Our right to approach courts to enforce our rights is duly reserved,” KZNPAA chair Andile Nduli said in the memorandum.

He explained that KZNPAA members were owed close to R10m in unpaid claims since the RAF “arbitrarily stopped processing payments”.

KZNPAA spokesperson Garrith Jamieson is quoted in TimesLIVE as saying that the organisation had not yet heard from the RAF. “We have not heard back as yet. We did hand over the memorandum and await the said timeline. If that is not adhered too we will then decide a way forward,” he said.

 

Jamieson, said many ambulance service providers are facing huge difficulty in sustaining their businesses and some having to take their vehicles off the road, according to an Independent on Saturday report. “Some had to close their services and others have had to park their vehicles.

“Yet we are an essential service provider, we are first responders to a scene and we are there to assist patients,” said Jamieson, adding that during the two-hour convoy, he had five emergency calls, “excluding calls from our own clients,” he said.

Jamieson said government emergency services would be unable to cope without private ambulance services. He said the RAF had until 7 November to respond to their memorandum. If they did not, the KPAA would suspend services for a longer period than 24 hours.

Officials from the Road Accident Fund accepted the memorandum – Road Accident Fund spokesperson William Maphutha said: “We duly acknowledge the submitted memorandum. It must be noted that the memorandum was also addressed to other government departments, such as Health and Transport. It is critical that we engage with these departments as key stakeholders.

“As the Road Accident Fund, we will be looking intensively into all grievances raised and respond accordingly. Some of the matters raised require us to determine whether or not there exist contractual agreements. In addition, we also need to determine if there was a legal basis for the payment of the queried amounts in law. We welcome engagement and will continue to do so as a caring government.”

 

[link url="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2020-11-01-pay-us-or-well-halt-service-kzn-ambulance-operators-demand-r10m-owed-by-raf/"]Full TimesLIVE report[/link]

 

[link url="https://www.iol.co.za/ios/news/ambulance-staff-on-the-edge-over-non-payment-from-road-accident-fund-9fb5d9bd-d529-4fae-8eb4-d69eae0c3287"]Full Independent on Saturday report[/link]

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