Parked ambulances are not necessarily idle, says Gauteng health department

The Gauteng department of health has clarified that ambulances parked at emergency medical services (EMS) bases are not necessarily idle or out of service, saying their presence at a base does not reflect how they are deployed across the province.

Gauteng health department spokesperson Steve Mabona said ambulance deployment depended on the purpose of each vehicle and operational requirements, with different categories of vehicles serving specific patient and health-care facility needs.

“These include emergency ambulances, intensive care unit (ICU) and high-care ambulances, as well as Gauteng scheduled emergency transport (GSET) vehicles, which are used for scheduled patient transportation,” said Mabona.

The department said in a statement that fleet management also involved rotating vehicles to maintain service continuity, particularly when some ambulances were undergoing maintenance. Some vehicles were deployed to provide services to clinics, while others respond to emergencies and transport patients between health facilities.

It said the number of ambulances parked at an EMS base at any given time should therefore not, on its own, be taken as an indication that the vehicles are not being used.

As an example, Mabona has cited an EMS base with an allocation of 33 vehicles, comprising:

• 22 emergency ambulances;
• five ICU and high-care ambulances; and
• six GSET vehicles.

Mabona said the department is also working to strengthen its EMS staffing capacity through the recruitment and selection process for 541 advertised posts, which closed in September 2026.

“The posts would support operational capacity and contribute to the effective delivery of emergency medical services.”

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