A prominent union for emergency medical technicians says the city is planning to lay off hundreds of EMTs amid budget cuts caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement issued Wednesday, Oren Barzilay, the president of FDNY EMS Local 2507, says the city wants to eliminate "some 400 emergency medical responder positions."

"A person having a heart attack or a stroke or the bleeding victim of a stabbing or gunshot wound cannot afford an extra five to seven minutes of delay that will likely occur if the mayor’s master layoff plan is carried out. If these budget cuts are enacted, people will die needlessly," Barzilay says.

"Yesterday, we were praised as heroes, essential workers saving lives. Today, the city government treats us like zeros," he adds.

Barzilay's statement also criticizes the city's response to the pandemic, and says nine of its members have died since it began.

"We did our job, even as an unprepared city government failed to provide these brave medical first responders and fire inspectors with adequate safety equipment, and even months later, have given them zero access to mental health counseling for those many suffering from PTSD," Barzilay says.

The budget cuts come amid a crunch that the city is facing due to decreased revenues caused by the ongoing pandemic.

The city passed a $88.2 billion budget in June. Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the budget would include more than $1 billion in cuts to the NYPD, though that figure was disputed by the City Council speaker and other activists at the time.

But the city still may face a potential loss of $9 billion in this year's budget. De Blasio traveled to Albany earlier this month to make the case for the city to borrow money from the state's financial control board.

In a statement, Bill Neidhardt, the press secretary for the mayor, said while the city does not want the layoffs to happen, "this is the hole we are in without a stimulus or borrowing authority."

"Our EMTs and firefighters save lives every day and we are working with their unions to find personnel savings to avoid layoffs, but unfortunately all agencies will face layoffs," Neidhardt says. "Without a stimulus or borrowing authority, EMTs and firefighters will have to find personnel savings.”

On Twitter, Neidhardt went further, saying that the city "is being targeted by Congress and White House (sic) who refuse to pass a stimulus."