WATCH | Covid-19: 'It's very scary, we've never seen anything like this' - Gauteng paramedics on third wave

• The third wave of Covid-19 infections has first responders spending hours locating beds at Gauteng hospitals.
• Ambulances have been transporting critical Covid-19 patients to other provinces in order to save lives.
• News24 spent an afternoon with the Vitalmed Emergency Response team to gain insight into the challenges faced by first responders.

"Hi, I was wondering if you can accept a 55-year-old male with Covid?"

This was the question the dispatch team at Vitalmed Emergency Response repeated for more than six hours on Thursday.

Despite their spirited attempts to locate an available bed at several hospitals in Gauteng, they failed.

By the end of the evening, the patient still had not been admitted to hospital.

Catastrophe in Gauteng

"We've never seen anything like this," director of Vitalmed Emergency Response Eric Nicholls told News24.

"If we haven't hit the peak as predicted yet, we are very concerned about what we can expect when we hit the peak."

On a typical day, the organisation provides ambulance services in Johannesburg's West Rand.

However, first responders are now transporting patients in dire need of hospital care to other provinces.

"Driving 300 kilometres does not guarantee admission," Vitalmed Emergency Response operations manager Mpho Magobe said. "We could drive that far and only get an assessment."

Operations manager at Vitalmed, Mpho Magobe spends hours on the road trannsporting and caring for covid-19 patients.

News24 Kayleen Morgan

'Mentally draining'

The intensity of the past two weeks has started to take a toll on the team. Some of the first responders have spent up to seven hours waiting outside hospitals with patients.

"I struggle to get a good night's rest," Mitchell van Niekerk told News24. He works on the dispatch desk and has racked up a lot of call time.

"It's mentally draining because a lot is going on, and in between getting ambulances out to where they're supposed to be, we're also sitting on the phone trying to get a hospital bed."

An ambulance dispatch officer for Vitalmed calls local hospitals in search of beds for Covid-19 patients.

News24 Kayleen Morgan

As daily infection rates continue to rocket, first responders are pleading with residents to be cautious.

Van Niekerk said he hoped South Africans who were not taking the virus seriously, will have a change of heart.

"I would love for them (naysayers) to come and sit behind this desk for one day and try and find a hospital bed. I think they would readjust their lives pretty quickly."