41 ambulances worth R16 million have been standing idle for six years

41 ambulances in the City of Johannesburg, valued at more than R16 million, have been standing idle for six years.

This comes at a time when residents are subjected to a Gauteng provincial ambulance service that puts users at risk because of long waiting times.

Alan Fuchs, a member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, said that these ambulances were bought to save lives.

“Instead, they have been standing unused at the City’s Emergency Medical Service (EMS) bases, losing value, and not benefiting the community,” he said.

He added that the root of this failure lies in Gauteng’s poorly managed provincialisation of ambulance services.

Although ambulance services are a provincial constitutional responsibility, municipalities previously operated them on the province’s behalf.

When Gauteng took over the function in 2020, it assumed responsibility for operations, personnel, and dispatch services.

However, it failed to properly address the municipal ambulances left behind. Six years later, the vehicles remain stranded.

Fuchs has called on the Gauteng MEC for Health, Faith Mazibuko, to intervene through an independent audit of these ambulances.

This audit should include the ownership of each ambulance, its condition, current value, and repair costs.

“Within 60 days, every ambulance must either be repaired and deployed, transferred to Gauteng, allocated to another lawful public service, or sold,” he said.

He added that taxpayers cannot continue paying for government incompetence and indecision.

Fuchs said that the City of Johannesburg no longer has the budget, skills, or equipment to run a fully-fledged ambulance service.

It is currently in negotiations with the Gauteng province for an operating license to run an event-based supplementary service.

However, he questioned whether this is possible considering Johannesburg’s financial and skills crisis.

“An ambulance without paramedics, insurance, medicines, equipment, and a dispatch system is not an emergency service. It is an expensive parked vehicle,” he said.