They will replace the broken down and ageing fleet, and bring the EMS fleet to 101 ambulances servicing Johannesburg residents.
Johannesburg, South Africa – This past Thursday, 20 June 2019, the City of Joburg announced that it’s Emergency Management Services (EMS) had procured 42 brand new ambulances as part of the Fleet Replacement Programme to substitute the current ageing and damaged fleet.
The newly acquired fleet will assist EMS to respond effectively to the residents of Johannesburg with state of the art ambulances.
The Executive Mayor of the City of Joburg, Councillor Herman Mashaba was joined by the MMC for Public Safety, Councillor Michael Sun and the Acting Executive Head of Emergency Management Services, Ms Nomathemba Mtshali to unveil the ambulances at Ivory Park Fire Station.
These ambulances will now be handed over and distributed across various fire stations within the municipality.
They will replace the broken down and ageing fleet, and bring the EMS fleet to 101 ambulances servicing Johannesburg residents. All 30 stations will each receive at least one ambulance, and some will receive two, based on the call volume within that region.
The City of Joburg promised that the deployment of these vehicles would be directed to some of our poorest communities who experience some of the highest call volumes. On average the Emergency Command Center receives over 30 000 emergency calls per month – ranging from medical, rescue and fire incidents. Joburg’s EMS being one of the largest of its kind in Africa, plays a critical role in ensuring the safety of our residents.
The addition of this fleet will enable our paramedics to deliver quality services, faster.
The City’s EMS performance in responding to priority one medical calls currently averages at 85% within 15 minutes.
Mayor Mashaba said during the launch: “This said, I have been informed that the Gauteng Provincial Government intends on taking over the City of Johannesburg’s ambulance service. I am deeply concerned that the safety of our residents is at risk of being compromised should this take place.
“These concerns stem from the tragic Life Esidimeni when Gauteng’s Department of Health removed patients from private care. This lead to the deaths of 143 people. While the province is within its rights to run its own ambulance service, we believe that the transfer of City ambulances to the province would greatly hamper service delivery.”
He said his administration would continue engagements with the Province, “to safeguard the interests of our residents”.
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