Dodgy ambulances a threat to patients

BOGUS and under-resourced private ambulance services looking to make a quick buck are placing patients’ lives at risk, operating on shoe string budgets and flouting medical laws in different parts of the country.

But new health regulations, which would clamp down on fraudulent operators, are still not in operation and so the scams continue.

Established operators, with full mandatory equipment on their vehicles, have witnessed the ambulance vultures:

● Acting in cahoots with unscrupulous tow-truck operators, paying informant fees and bribes to tipsters and to traffic cops to be first at the scene of a road accident.

● Using untrained “paramedics” who are frequently not equipped with the most basic medical kit, including gloves.

● Abusing patients to squeeze them into the Road Accident Fund system so the ambulance operators can lodge claims.

● Refusing to attend to patients without medical aid because they might not get paid.

Mama Taxi

● Borrowing equipment from other operators for official inspections, so it appears they meet requirements.

● Taking patients to hospitals even though they may not need emergency treatment, simply to claim the fee from the hospital or government.

Life support paramedic for ER24 Craig Wiley said he had seen many bogus or non-compliant ambulances arriving at a scene of an emergency without oxygen or the adequate equipment to treat patients on Cape Town’s roads .

According to Wiley, the Western Cape is the only province with a promulgated act at the moment. “The noncompliance of ambulances is less in the Western Cape compared to other provinces, but it unfortunately still does happen,” he said.

Robert Daniels, spokesman for Emergency Medical Services, said the act was promulgated in the Western Cape during the last quarter of last year. It was introduced as a result of a lack of regulation within ambulance services nationally.

Daniels confirmed the Western Cape is the only province with a promulgated act since the provincial health depart- ment identified the problem at the same time as the national government. “It was easier and much faster to introduce provincial regulations which we needed very urgently. The national regulations should become available soon.”

According to ER24, anyone can establish private ambulances. They only have to meet requirements set down by the Board of Healthcare Funders.

Werner Vermaak, spokesman for ER24, said, “There are definitely allegations of dodgy dealings. We do have relationships with various towing operators, some formal and some informal. If we receive a complaint of any of the towing operators we have a relationship with, we immediately request full information and launch an investigation as our brand is linked to it. We then attempt to facilitate a resolution as far as possible.”

Oliver Wright chief executive of the South African Private Ambulance and Emergency Services Association, said: “The Western Cape Department of Health currently accredits ambulance services according to the Western Cape Ambulance Services Act.” TIDES High today . . . .5.42am, 5.59pm Tomorrow . . . . .6.12am, 6.33pm Low today . . .11.51am, 11.57pm Tomorrow . . .12.24am, midnight Spring tides . . . . . . . . . . . .Mar 9

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mar 23 Neap Tides . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mar 2

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mar 15

SUN/MOON Sunrise today . . . . . . . . . .6.31am Sunset today . . . . . . . . .7.26pm Moon rises today . . . . .10.05pm