The ambulance crew who failed to transport an injured, homeless man to hospital in Johannesburg will appear before a disciplinary tribunal on Thursday, said Johannesburg Metro spokesperson Gabu Tugwana.
He said in a statement on Monday that an initial inquiry by the city’s emergency management services into the incident had found the men, Adriaan Craukamp and Johan Erasmus, had acted negligently.
”They were found to have conducted themselves in a disgraceful and dishonest manner prejudicial to good proper working of the council services,” said Tugwana. He said charge sheets for the tribunal had been served on them. The men were on suspension.
Tugwana said: ”There are operational set standards personnel must follow and there is no indication that the procedures were observed in the incident.”
The inquiry found that the men had not complied with waste-management requirements when they disposed of a set of gloves, also found on the pavement, he said.
The paramedics were called out to attend to a homeless man who was lying sick in the gutter in central Johannesburg on September 21. When the emergency management services workers arrived, they reportedly gave the man a cursory examination, but refused to transport him in their ambulance because he was too dirty.
”I pleaded with the two guys to take him to hospital, but they said he wasn’t sick, just dirty. The old man was shivering and groaning. He was in pain,” security guard Ambrose Dudula told the press at the time.
The man was found dead the next morning and taken to the mortuary, said police spokesperson Superintendent Chris Wilken.
A report on the inquiry, during which six witnesses and the two paramedics testified, was forwarded to the Gauteng provincial health department and the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA).
The council announced on Monday that it was extremely concerned about the incident and would also investigate the matter.
”All practitioners registered with the HPCSA are bound by a code for ethical and professional behaviour towards their patients and clients,” it said in a statement.
”We would like to urge patients to assist us in exposing emergency care practitioners who make themselves guilty of malpractice or unprofessional conduct,” said Lloyd Christopher, chairman of the Professional Board for Emergency Care Practitioners.
Christopher said that patients could complain to the HPCSA about incompetence, insufficient care, improper conduct, racial discrimination, and rude behaviour. – Sapa