Two South African medics were Thursday suspended after a pregnant woman they were ferrying to hospital fell out of a moving ambulance and suffered a miscarriage, an official said.

The ambulance door opened while the vehicle was moving and the 19-year-old woman plunged to the ground.

The drivers only realised on arriving at the hospital in the remote southeastern village of Ntabankulu, that their patient was missing.

She was picked up by a passing motorist and rushed to hospital. But she had suffered multiple injuries from the fall and miscarried.

The medics “were negligent and they have been suspended with immediate effect,” Eastern Cape provincial health department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo told AFP.

The two are to face disciplinary action and possible dismissal, he added.

“We condemn their actions in the strongest terms. We make them work as a pair so that one guards the patient while the other drives the ambulance,” he said.