PARAMEDICS PLAN TO DOWN TOOLS, WANT RISK ALLOWANCE

PIGG’S PEAK – With the country experiencing what is now said to be the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the worst thing that could happen is for emergency services such as paramedics to be unavailable.

This is likely to happen this week as paramedics under the Emergency Medical Services (EMS), also referred to as 977, have planned to embark on a nationwide strike. Their concern is that they are the only government uniformed service that does not get risk allowance or overtime. Under normal circumstances, paramedics work a 14-hour shift, but they claimed that this was often extended due to emergencies.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, paramedics have been at the forefront, ensuring that people who have tested positive are attended to. They are also responsible for transporting patients to the Lubombo Referral Hospital. In addition to this, they also assist in home-based care of patients for emergency cases.  There are about 475 paramedics scattered at 16 stations countrywide. It was also gathered that each day, about 350 emergency calls are received. “This is a very high volume of emergencies if you consider that we have only 16 stations,” said a paramedic.

Negotiating

This publication further gathered that the proposed strike is expected to start on Wednesday. The paramedics said they had been negotiating with government for a risk allowance of 25 per cent but to no avail. “It’s been nearly 10 years of negotiation,” said some of the paramedics, who spoke on condition of anonymity. They said other health personnel such as nurses received the risk allowance in addition to their salaries. Unlike nurses, who belong to a union, paramedics are not unionised.  A select committee made up of paramedics is said to have been at the forefront of the negotiations for the risk allowance with government.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: