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Two brothers have been arrested for fraud at the Durban Emergency Medical and Rescue Service base for sharing an identity.
Health Department spokesman Chris Maxon said the two had been arrested on Wednesday after it had been discovered that one had used the identity of the other and had been receiving a salary for five months.
He said one of them had been offered a job as a paramedic last year, and had needed to start work on September 1.
“It was discovered that the siblings share the same initials and surname, and when the one who was successful was to report for duty, he instead sent his brother, since he was already employed by a private ambulance service,” said Maxon.
The brothers are both qualified basic life support paramedics.
Maxon said the fraud had been discovered during an internal verification process.
He said employment documents also showed that the two shared the same identity document.
The men will appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. - The Mercury