Radio Islam News Team – 15/02/2016

Paramedics on duty were robbed at gunpoint in two major cities in South Africa recently, raising concerns about the safety of emergency responders in a country with a high crime rate.

Two paramedics from ER24, a medical care group, were robbed Friday night in the Khayelitsha area of Cape Town after going to a home to help a person reported to be ill.

One of the paramedics said a gunman jumped into the back of the ambulance and held a firearm to the front of his forehead while demanding his cell phone.

In a separate incident, authorities in Johannesburg said a gunman robbed three municipal paramedics who were treating a patient in an ambulance.

Johannesburg Emergency Services’ Robert Mulaudzi spoke to Radio Islam’s Ml Sulaimaan Ravat on Sabahul Muslim.

“What happens is that mostly, they (the robbers) attack the paramedics and then take mostly their belongings (wallets and phones).”

Mulaudzi says that there are also instances where they take paramedics equipment, which he says there might be a demand for the equipment or a syndicate.

“They take our portable oxygen cylinders and equipment we use in our ambulances.”

ER24 spokesman Russell Meiring said that paramedics are “quite an easy target” because they often rush into risky areas at night.

Paramedics are working with police to get escorts for some assignments.

“When paramedics are in a situation where it’s a shooting incident, we will immediately realise that the safety of paramedics is compromised and therefore paramedics will be dispatched with JMPD or SAPS officials.” Said Mulaudzi

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