​Staff Writer
The Gauteng Department of Health is pursuing multiple strategies to address the continued attacks on emergency medical service (EMS) personnel responding to calls.
The department's Emergency Communication Centre (ECC) has profiled areas and calls that may be hoax calls to advise the crews and security cluster when dispatching EMS resources. At the same time, standard operating procedures for prevention have been developed. 
In a statement on Tuesday, the department said it has been engaging community policing forums and police in districts and sub-districts to escort and accompany ambulances to the scene.
Furthermore, a meeting with ward leaders to get some mitigation in these attacks, such as pick-up points in formal areas with no house numbers, was held. 
"The Gauteng EMS uses standard operating procedures on management and prevention of possible paramedic attacks and uses police escorts in high-risk areas or potential areas of incidents of EMS attacks. 
"The rollout of safety and security equipment on personnel and vehicles is at the final stages. The rollout of panic button devices linked to ECC in all ambulances and response cars linked to security services in identified areas is also being finalised," it explained. 
EMS is also investigating the use and introduction of electronic security systems consulting with experts in the area and has extended the Employee Health Wellness Program (EHWP) to 24 hours for all personnel for trauma diffusion, counseling and referral. 
Over 490 000 calls were received by the EMS personnel, known as the Green Angels, between September 2021 and August 2022.
There have been 12 attack incidents to date. These include, amongst others, an attempted sexual assault and high jacking, damage to an ambulance after being hit with stones and armed robbery where personal belongings such as cell phones, wallets and bags were taken. 
The latest incident saw the murder of a patient inside an ambulance in Atteridgeville on Monday during a mob justice incident.
An ambulance was dispatched to the area at 20:00. A police escort was requested to allow the response team to enter the area safely.
The patient, who was accused of some crime was found already on the ground, surrounded by the community. The paramedics were able to initiate treatment and prepared to transport the patient to the nearest hospital. 
According to the department, as the ambulance was getting ready to leave the scene, community members reacted and started throwing stones and barricading the road to prevent the ambulance from leaving. 
The Green Angels ran for cover while the patient was fatally assaulted while lying on an ambulance stretcher. The ambulance was also extensively damaged, and some medical equipment was stolen. A case has since been opened with the police. 
MEC for Health and Wellness, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, has sent a passionate plea to residents of Gauteng not to take the law into their own hands and hinder the operations of the emergency medical personnel. 
"This is totally unacceptable. We cannot allow society to degenerate like this. Mob justice or taking the law into our own hands cannot be the answer to addressing some of the socio-economic issues affecting communities. There has to be a better way," stated MEC Nkomo-Ralehoko, criticising the attack on health workers whose job is to provide care to those who need it. 
Nkomo-Ralehoko added that the attacks have dire consequences as they make it difficult for them to discharge the constitutional mandate to provide access to healthcare services. 
"I will further engage the Community Safety Department and community structures to see how we can work together to strengthen some of the interventions already in place to curb such incidents," explained MEC.