The City of Johannesburg is opposed to the Gauteng Government’s proposal to take over the city’s ambulance services from 1 September.
The Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Public Safety, councillor Michael Sun, has written a letter to the Gauteng MEC for Health, Dr Bandile Masuku, requesting an urgent meeting to discuss the City’s grave concern.
According to City’s Executive Mayor, councillor Herman Mashaba, the City of Johannesburg has run the ambulance services on behalf of the Gauteng Provincial Government for the past 13 years.
The decision to take back the ambulance service appears to have been taken by the political leadership in the Province without any proper consultation or planning with the City of Johannesburg.
Despite the City’s numerous requests, over months, to receive the Province’s business, implementation and transitional plans to take over this vital function, the City has to date received no response.
It now appears there are less than two months until the provincialisation of the ambulance services after the Province’s announcement that it was proceeding with plans to withdraw its subsidy and the Department of Health licence which the City has been using to operate the ambulances.
Should this plan be implemented, the City believes the lives of many residents will be put at risk due to the absence of a business plan and proper consultation about its execution.
“The Province’s running of its Health Department has been nothing short of a disaster. Many hospitals in Gauteng are essentially dysfunctional due to poor management and planning. And yet now, the Provincial Executive wants to take over the running of ambulances from the City of Johannesburg in less than two months, without even providing the City with its business plan to prove it has the means and capacity to do so. The City of Johannesburg has a moral and ethical duty to ensure that our residents have access to a safe and reliable ambulance service that will be there for them in their moment of need,” Mashaba said.
“The City is currently running a professional ambulance service. Just last month, I announced that the City had taken delivery of 42 new ambulances as part of our continued efforts to capacitate our EMS department. As the saying goes, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ I am left baffled by what appears to be an irrational decision-making process by the political leadership in the Province. If Province is currently unable to properly manage health care services in Gauteng, why on earth would it be trying to take on more responsibility?” he added.
Mashaba hopes that MEC Masuku will concur and that all relevant parties can convene as soon as possible on this matter.
