Eastern Cape ambulance personnel suspended for failing to pitch up at emergency

Warning:

This article may contain graphic and/or adult content unsuitable for minors and sensitive readers.

Read the article

 
The Eastern Cape health department says it has suspended two emergency staff for failing to arrive at an emergency scene after being dispatched.

Health Department spokesperson, Sizwe Kupelo, says police impounded an ambulance parked outside a house in Mthatha after it was dispatched to an emergency in a rural village.

He says the Department is taking action against the two ambulance personnel who have also been suspended.

Meanwhile, Kupelo says they've uncovered a scam in which parts from emergency services vehicles, dispatched to emergencies, had been being sold, while in another scam the Department was being billed excessively for petrol.

He says they're now beginning to get answers as why the department is being inundated with medico-legal claims from the public.

"It clearly shows that some of our officials have no interest in the public. This is illustrated by the looting that is taking place in the EMS department as well as the petrol card scam that has been uncovered costing the department thousands of Rands. It has found to be rife in Port Elizabeth, Alice, Butterworth and Mthatha. We are going to act decisively against all those implicated in the scam." says Kupelo.