The Western Cape Health Department has placed an advert for service providers to tender for body cams to be worn by Metro EMS officials while responding to calls.
EMS teams in the Western Cape came under attack in July 2002, including one team that was transporting a patient in an ambulance. Picture: Supplied
CAPE TOWN – The Western Cape Health Department has placed an advert for service providers to tender for body cams to be worn by Metro EMS officials while responding to calls.
The advert was placed earlier this month and the procurement process is currently under way.
This as attacks on ambulance crews continue unabated in communities across the province.
The Western Cape Health Department said that the procurement of suitable bodycams with GPS and panic alert features comes as ambulance crews continue to come under attack while responding to calls.
Metro EMS spokesperson Deanna Bessick said: “The intent is to equip all EMS personnel. At this stage, the procurement process has to run its course and the Western Cape government will have to determine if it can identify a vendor who is able to meet the specs.”
In the latest incident last week, two paramedics were targeted by armed men after loading a patient into their ambulance in Ocean View.
The crew managed to escape and get their patient to False Bay Hospital for further treatment, but they were left severely traumatised.
Bessick said in 2019, officials recorded 30 attacks on ambulance crews in the province.
Between January and now, 46 attacks have been reported