Paramedics and healthcare workers must be protected

Just when you thought some members of society couldn’t go any lower, you hear a crew of paramedics were attacked while attending to a patient last weekend.

Worse still, this is not an isolated case, intensifying the call for the police to act, or see ambulance services in high risk communities been withdrawn.

Paramedic Phumzile Dlamini was killed near Mabhanoyini in the Estcourt area, KwaZulu-Natal, at the weekend, while her colleague was also shot and wounded while working.

ER24 spokesperson Russel Meiring said: “Emergency workers are at risk due to the times they respond to calls as well as the areas [in which] these incidents occur.”

Senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies Dr Johan Burger said emergency workers were attacked because they were “soft prey”, while South African Private Ambulance and Emergency Services Association chief executive Oliver Wright said the attacks were “despicable and shameful”.

Healthcare workers put their lives at risk to save lives on a daily basis.

Notwithstanding the crime and violence they encounter when they arrive at work, they have had to endure a torrid 18 months in terms of uncertainty and fear when it comes to dealing with Covid.

We need to protect our paramedics and healthcare workers. They deserve better.