GAUTENG HEALTH MEC MUST REQUEST REPORT ON JOBURG EMS HEAD

Gauteng Health MEC Ntombi Mekgwe must intervene to make public the PricewaterhouseCoopers report on allegations against Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS) head Dr Audrey Gule.

The public have the right to know what is in this report, which was only commissioned after pressure by former Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu following a meeting I had with her concerning this matter.

Now the city is stubbornly refusing to release the report, although Dr Gule has been suspended as a result of its findings. Gule should have been fired long ago as she has all but destroyed emergency services in Johannesburg.

In my view, the deaths of many people are on her head as they could have been saved by a decent ambulance service. It appears that she receives high-level political protection that may well continue.

For instance, it is deplorable that the Johannesburg MMC for Public Safety Tsidi Mashodo called a meeting yesterday with senior managers in the EMS Department and threatened that those who had spoken to the media would be dismissed before September this year.

This is rank intimidation against people who have bravely exposed the mess in this department.

I will be asking questions to MEC Mekgwe in the Gauteng Legislature as to whether she will make the report public.

Statement issued by Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng Health Spokesman, June 23 2011

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