THE appalling abuse directed at paramedics should shock every reader.

Ambulance crews are sworn at almost every day and threatened frequently. They have been bitten, punched and kicked. Patients have even pulled knives and guns on them.

As Tony Blair launches a mission to restore respect, the disrespect shown to these frontline health care workers demonstrates how far he has to go.

If paramedics were interested in high pay or glory, they would be in a different job. Their motivation is a desire to help others.

That is why they train long and hard. That is why they work anti-social hours. Saving lives is their main reward.

Yet somehow we have let society decline to the point where these selfless professionals put themselves at risk every time they respond to a 999 call.

It is perverse that the very people who seek to minister medical care to the critically ill and injured must first learn how to defend themselves.

Very often it is the patients themselves who turn on their potential saviours - the ultimate ingratitude. Once again a boorish minority, high on drugs or drink, is to blame.

Those who attack health care workers deserve nothing less than lengthy jail sentences. Paramedics should not have to enter a battleground every time they fight to save someone's life.

Updated: 11:22 Tuesday, May 24, 2005