Private sector ambulance companies delivered a memorandum to KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Zulu’s office in Pietermaritzburg this week, in protest against what they call the “collapse” of their business by the government, reports IoL.
Scores of ambulances with their emergency lights on snaked along the N3 from Durban to to hand over the memorandum. Among their grievances is that they have not been prioritised for the Covid-19 vaccines like other health workers, the Emergency Medical Services Regulations in their current form, the poaching of their qualified paramedics by the government and the closure of Intermediate Life Support colleges.
Mario Booysen of the KZN Private Ambulance Association said they had no option but to protest as they had been ignored by the KZN Department of Health.
Iol writes that the protest comes in the wake of the government tightening regulations around private Emergency Medical Services after the industry saw a boom in new entrants with many using vehicles that were outdated and ill-equipped to treat patients at accidents or other emergencies.