Find solution to benefit all parties
State ambulance services shut down across the Eastern Cape this week as medics downed tools over outstanding overtime payments owed to them. Their other gripes include poor working conditions, staff and ambulance shortages, and the long hours they have to work. This is a huge blow, particularly to those who live in remote parts of our province who rely on ambulances to transport them to hospitals. In the Bay, there are private ambulances that are roped in to assist with life-threatening priority cases.
However, for the hundreds of patients who are transported from rural areas to the big cities via state emergency medical services every week, the strike is especially problematic.
It puts on hold their chemotherapy sessions, operations, hospital check-ups and treatment – the list is endless.
But while the law prohibits ambulance crews from striking, we cannot be oblivious to their plight.
Theirs is a difficult job. Emergency staff often have to enter the most hostile of environments where they are, at times, robbed at gunpoint or shot at.
They work long hours, encountering some of the most gruesome scenes and for that they must be compensated.
It is not fair to expect them to work for 12 hours a day and only be paid for eight.
While we are mindful of the department of health’s financial constraints, not paying the ambulance staff what is due to them violates their rights as workers.
It also undermines the very spirit of the constitution on which this government is founded.
A senior representative from the SA Emergency Workers Union explained it aptly: “We cannot control the anger of the people any more.
“It is their money that they have worked for.” The strike cannot continue unabated.
The provincial health department and ambulance workers must come to an agreement that is fair to both the staff and the public they serve.
Failing to do so could see civilians pay the ultimate price with their lives if they are not able to get to hospitals on time for medical assistance.