The Department of Health has intensified Emergency Medical Services with 1540 ambulances deployed across the country`s major routes, strategic points and hotspots to accelerate a turnaround time for emergency medical response during the festive season.

The department says this was because the festive season is associated with a high demand for emergency medical services. This number will be complemented by private sector ambulances as part of existing service level agreements entered into with provinces to beef up EMS to ensure quick response to major accidents and to prevent avoidable loss of lives resulting from accidents. Some of the major routes to be prioritised in provinces include Eastern Cap(N2,N10,R61, R72), Free State (N1, N3, N5, N6,N8), Gauteng (N1,N3, N4, N12, N17, R21, R59, R101), KwaZulu-Natal ( N2,N3, R56); Limpopo (N1,N11,R36, R37,R71,R101, R518, R524, R528, R579), Mpumalanga (N2, N3, N4, N11, N12, N17, R23, R38, R40, R573), North West (N4, N14, N12, N18, R30), Northern Cape (N1,N7,N8, N10, N12, N14, N18, R31, R382) and Western Cape (N1, N2, N7, R27, R62). The department also appealed to communities to join hands with government and law enforcement agencies during festive to create an enabling environment for frontline healthcare workers, especially nurses and paramedics to perform their life-saving duties freely without fear of both verbal and physical violence and aggression. 

Department of Health spokesperson Foster Mohale said that health workers have fallen victim to violence and crime in the line of duty in recent years in the country and this can only be stopped if communities become protectors rather than bystanders. "Violence against health workers is unacceptable because it does not only negatively impact on their psychological and physical well-being, but also affects their job motivation and has potential to compromise the quality of care and puts health-care provision at risk," he said. Mohale said the World Health Organization (WHO) defines attacks against health care as any act of verbal or physical violence or obstruction or threat of violence that interferes with the availability, access and delivery of curative or preventive health services during emergencies. "Emergency medical personnel play an essential role in the health system by providing timely and appropriate medical care to patients in need. They respond to emergencies to save lives and risk theirs. It is not possible to have the ambulances to be accompanied by police or armed private security, hence communities need to play a role to end attacks against paramedics and other health workers, " said Mohale. He added that according to the WHO, health workers are at high risk of violence all over the world. "Between 8% and 38% of health workers suffer physical violence at some point in their careers. Some of the associated risks during the festive season include vehicles accidents, domestic violence, alcohol and substance abuse and drowning. All health facilities will remain open to enable South Africans to access health services," he said.