On Saturday 19 July employees of Sunshine Supermarket were forced to call Roodepoort Emergency Management Services (EMS) when a medical incident occurred at the store.
After waiting more than two hours for the ambulance, to their amazement a fire truck arrived. Finally an ambulance was dispatched and the patient taken away.
Three days later the staff were unfortunate enough to have another medical emergency at the store. Again they called for an ambulance and again they waited more than two hours for one to arrive.
When they asked the driver of the ambulance what took him so long he explained that EMS only has three ambulances and that currently two were not being used because the one’s licence had expired and the other one’s lights were not working. He also told them that the one that was being used is “merely a taxi for picking up and dropping off patients” and that basically it was an empty shell with no equipment and no medical supplies on board.
This raises questions since at the start of July the City proudly showcased 20 new ambulances, which cost R10 million.
EMS spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi could not be reached for comment.
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