Make Ambulance Services in the Country More Efficient to Save Lives
- thteohsjecho
- Mar 23, 2016
- 2 min read
AMBULANCE services in the country should be restructured and revamped to make them more efficient in saving lives, according to Kelana Jaya Member of Parliament Wong Chen.
Wong Chen strongly urged the relevant authorities especially the Ministry of Health to restructure ambulance services in the country into a separate statutory body like the Fire and Rescue Services Department.
“Ambulances are now attached to government and private hospitals, and the voluntary services are poorly funded.”
“ADUN Subang Jaya Hannah Yeoh and I are extremely concerned about the current organisational structure of ambulance services in the country,” he said at a press conference in Parliament.
Wong Chen said Malaysian should emulate systems used in Australia, Singapore, and the United Kingdom which have proven to be more effective and efficient.
“Pending such a restructuring, I urge the Health Minister to immediately increase and finance first responder services, paramedics who travel in motorbikes, and to increase funds to voluntary and NGO services such as St John’s Ambulance, Red Crescent and SJ Beacon, a local Subang Jaya ambulance initiative.”
“Subang Jaya is a well-planned urban area with good roads and decent infrastructure. The tardiness of ambulance services is absolutely unacceptable,” he added.
Wong Chen said in the last couple of months in Subang Jaya, there had been three accidents whereby the ambulance services arrived very late to the scene.
“In the first case which involved a teenager who was knocked down while crossing the road, the ambulance was late by 45 minutes, while in the second case which involved a motorcyclist, the ambulance was 30 minutes late.”
“And yesterday (Mac 22), a semi-conscious injured 93 year old woman waited for an hour for the ambulance. None arrived and she was eventually taken to hospital by the police. She passed away this morning (Mac 23). The other two earlier victims did not survive their respective accidents,” he said.
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