Bay EMS staff under siege

“PEOPLE are dying because we cannot fetch them.”

So says senior Emergency Medical Service (EMS) officer, Monwabisi Booysen, one of the many ambulance crew members who face violent crime while on the job in Nelson Mandela Bay.

And, explains the head of the metro’s EMS, Brenhan Metune, the impact of crime on ambulances in the metro has become devastating, with certain places such as New Brighton declared “no-go” areas because ambulances cannot enter without police protection.

“Ambulance crews are under siege in Nelson Mandela Bay,” he said.

Metume said 20 serious and violent attacks on ambulance personnel had taken place over the past 22 months.

Spokesman for the Eastern Cape department of health, Sizwe Kupelo – in response to a fresh attack two weeks ago – called for attacks on medics to be treated with as much urgency as police murders. —