Johannesburg – Drivers employed by the Mpumalanga department of health continue to receive their full salaries although they have not done their jobs since February.
The drivers, who have been transporting cancer and other patients from Mpumalanga to different hospitals in Gauteng, were replaced by the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) drivers who are qualified ambulance assistants.
A driver who spoke to Sunday World and preferred not to be named said: “Since we were replaced, we just go to work and stay there until we knock off without performing any duties. This is not good because we don’t even know what will happen to us in the future. “They informed us that we must stop transporting the patients with immediate effect.
When we asked why, we were told that only EMS drivers will transport the patients because they have ambulance assistance qualifications.
“Since I started to work here about 10 years ago, I never faced a situation in which a patient needed medics to save their lives because we were transporting patients from their homes to the hospitals for check-ups only, not critically ill patients.
“What surprises me is that sometimes they ask us to transport patients locally, so I ask myself why the certificate is not needed if we transport the patients locally.
“The management never hinted or asked us whether we were interested to acquire some training, they just replaced us.”
Another driver said the health department’s management told him that if he wanted to volunteer they would permit him to transport the patients to Gauteng.
“This is crazy, we were told that we don’t qualify to transport the patients, so why now they want me to volunteer? These people think we are stupid, they don’t respect us.”
National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union provincial secretary Welcome Mnisi said: “We previously interacted with the department about the issue and the follow-up meeting will be held soon. What I can tell you is that we are not only assisting the former drivers only, but we also address the problems faced by the EMS drivers who complain that they are being overworked.
“For now, I cannot give you more information as we are working on the matt er as I told you before,” said Mnisi.
Mpumalanga department of health spokesperson Dumisani Malamule said: “There is no driver who is going to be retrenched because our hospitals still require their services.”
Malamule did not specify what the former drivers were currently doing since they were no longer doing their old duties.
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