EMS STAFF COME UNDER ATTACK

Ambulance crews face stoning, robberies

- GENEVIEVE SERRA [e-mail]

SOUTHERN right whales have returned to the Western Cape coastline for their annual calving and mating season, with sightings reported from Hermanus, False Bay, and even the Atlantic Seaboard promenade.

(ARMAND HOUGH Independent Newspapers)

THE Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness said the latest attack on EMS personnel, where their ambulance was stoned, highlights a serious wave of violence that has resulted in 90 safety-related incidents involving staff in nearly a year, including 23 physical threats and 12 robberies.

Staff said emergency services are under attack.

The department condemned the attack, which took place on Sunday, while the ambulance team was travelling along the N2 near Macassar. The team was transporting a patient when their vehicle was stoned near the Shell garage just after 12.30am. A rock, hurled at them, landed on the bonnet and shattered the windscreen.

"We can confirm that the patient and our staff are safe. However, our EMS staff are traumatised by the senseless incident and required hospital assessment; they have since been discharged," the department said.

Police spokesperson, Constable Ndakhe Gwala, said Macassar police registered a case of malicious damage to property and that no one was injured.