TWO Emergency Management Services (EMS) paramedics were hijacked and robbed at gunpoint while attending to a maternity patient in Eikenhof informal settlement on Wednesday, November 16 at around 22:00.
The paramedics responded to the maternity call in Eikenhof and waited for the escort at a four-way stop, to take them to the area where the patient was expected to be. On arrival they found armed men waiting for them at the premises. The men held them at gunpoint, stripped them of their uniforms and handcuffed them and put them in the back of the ambulance and drove all over the area with them until they came across a police van which was patrolling in the area. A shootout between the armed men and police ensued. The paramedics were, however, rescued by the police and only sustained minor injuries during the altercation with the hijackers. They were later transported to Mulburton Clinic for further medical care and were later discharged. They are recovering from this traumatic experience at home.
The two paramedics are receiving counselling from the EMS Internal Employee Assistance Programme office and the chaplaincy office while the case has been reported to the Mondeor Police Station for further investigations.
This incident occurred a week after two other EMS paramedics were robbed at gunpoint in Willars farm while waiting for an escort to take them closer to where they expected to find the patient. Two armed men held them at gunpoint and demanded all their belongings.
“We have seen an escalation in the number of incidents where paramedics are robbed while rendering an essential service to the citizens of the city of Johannesburg. We condemn in strongest terms this barbaric behaviour by these criminal elements who are on a mission to disrupt the delivery of an essential service to our communities throughout the city and we call on our communities to protect us as EMS personnel by reporting the criminals to the police so that they can be removed from our communities,” said EMS media liaison officer Robert Mulaudzi.
Mulaudzi advised that if communities do not step in to assist them they will be forced to withdraw their services or respond only when a SAPS or JMPD escort is guaranteed in those affected areas. “We cannot afford a situation where essential services are disrupted by few criminal elements, we therefore want to urge our communities to make sure that we are protected when we render this essential service,” he said.
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