MEC aims to provincialise emergency services

Gauteng health MEC Bandile Masuku said his department was hoping to put Johannesburg emergency workers under the auspices of the provincial government by January next year.

This as suspended firefighters working for Emergency Management Services (EMS) in Johannesburg are in the throes of a legal battle with their employer.

Firefighters claim their allegedly unprotected strike earlier this year was justified because they were being forced to break regulations and the law by attending to emergencies without supervisors and in poorly manned vehicles.

The South African Medical Association said it was looking into claims by the Democratic Municipal and Allied Workers Union of South Africa that municipal emergency workers in Johannesburg were routinely being forced to put patients at risk by giving them sub-par emergency care.

EMS and over 200 of its employees are at odds over the interpretation of the regulations of the Health Practitioners Council of South Africa, which the firefighters claim they and other municipal emergency workers are constantly in breach of.

But Masuku said where provincial emergency workers were concerned, he observed little to complain about.

He conducted ride-alongs with provincial emergency workers at the weekend, after which he said he was “satisfied” with the resources and the quality of the services provided by emergency personnel.

But he said he was aware of issues facing the City of Joburg and those raised by the unions.

“I think the situation [in Johannesburg] pertains to a different context altogether in terms of Gauteng EMS and it is for this reason we want to provincialise the EMS, so we are able to give them a similar treatment and level of competency.

“And we are clear we are moving into provincialising – we have had a few hiccups in Johannesburg and I think now the agreement is that from January 1, the province should be running the EMS service in Johannesburg.”

But the South African Municipal Workers Union suggested the issues facing emergency services personnel in the province were politically motivated.

A spokesperson said provincialising may do little to change the internal politics and management issues facing EMS in Democratic Alliance-run Johannesburg, especially with the recent resignation of mayor Herman Mashaba.

I’m satisfied with the resources and quality of services provided by emergency personnel.

Bandile Masuku Gauteng health MEC