Department clears air on car washers

THE Eastern Cape department of health has defended the “appointment” of dedicated ambulance washers at the East London EMS station.

Disgruntled paramedics working at stations in Fort Beaufort, Alice, Cathcart and Mdantsane complained that they had to wash their vehicles inside and out themselves while their colleagues in East London had people to do the job for them.

Health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said four ambulance washers were sent to the Vincent base by the department of transport as part of a project that commenced in 2015.

“The washing of vehicles in East London is done by four people, who were allocated by the department of transport.

“This does not substitute the fact that EMS crew members are responsible for washing their vehicles as part of their key performance areas,” Kupelo said, adding the function was considered in the performance management development system.

He said the four Vincent washers only took care of the outside of the vehicles and the interior had to be cleaned “by trained EMS staff”.

A week-long Daily Dispatch investigation uncovered dirty ambulances, shortage of medical equipment and rundown EMS bases.

Paramedics also complained they had to wash ambulances themselves using unsterilised buckets and mops, which they claimed was not part of their job description.

A paramedic working from the one-room Fort Beaufort ambulance base told the Dispatch: “When the Fort Beaufort hospital staff members have left for home we steal the fire protection pipes to clean the vehicles ourselves.

“I use the rubbish bin, an old mop and broom to clean the ambulances on the outside. We don’t have a choice.”

Another said: “The East London office’s furniture is not old like in the other bases. That base is well kept. They have people who wash their vehicles, have beautiful gardens, well kept grounds and enough ambulances unlike us working in other bases.”

The workers who spoke to the Dispatch cannot be named as they are not authorised to speak to the media.

Department of transport MEC Weziwe Tikana said the workers cleaning the Vincent vehicles were part of a pilot programme aimed at converting the department’s expanded public works programme (EPWP) into cooperatives that washed government vehicles.

Asked why the department of transport did not send washers to other basesTikana said: “We don’t roll-out everywhere but our footprint will be everywhere eventually.

“We want to turn these people [the washers] into small, medium and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs) so that as a department we don’t get to pay them forever.

“We want them to be sustainable before we can move to other areas.

The department of transport is paying them currently. The project is not everywh Tikana said. —