Durban - The Department of Health has spoken out about the abuse of its ambulances by staff, who have been using them for personal errands.

The department said it had identified those behind the abuse.

The incidents arise as the department is facing a shortage of vehicles especially ambulances and patients often wait for hours for ambulances to arrive.

Due to budget shortages, the department cannot afford new ambulances and can only replace those that are damaged or irreparable.

Briefing members of the Health portfolio committee in the KZN Legislature in Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday, MEC Nomagugu Simelane revealed that last year, she had to deal with two incidents where the ambulances were abused.

"Last year we dealt with two consecutive incidents. In one case, I received a call from the Premier Thami Ntuli, who told me that he had received information from a member of the public revealing that an ambulance had been seen parked in a shebeen. The ambulance had been there for at least four hours," she said.

"We had information about that ambulance (number plate, etc.) and we were able to trace it,” she added.

In another incident, she was contacted by an ANC leader.

“The ANC leader alerted me that an ambulance was being used to ferry building material. He recorded them as windows (for a house) were being loaded into the ambulance. We were able to trace the ambulance and found that while it was busy loading building material in Durban, it was not from Durban; it was coming from another district. This means that while it was there, it did not attend to patients in its district,” she said.

THE MERCURY