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Written answer to Parliamentary
Question for MHA during Parliament Sitting on whether there is sufficient
number of ambulances on duty each day to meet emergency calls and how many
calls are made each day that require the presence of ambulances and on site
first-aid, 16 Nov 04 |
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Question: |
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Mr Andy Gan Lai Chiang: |
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To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a)
whether there is sufficient number of ambulances on duty each day to meet
emergency calls and (b) how many calls are made each day that require the
presence of ambulances and on site first-aid. |
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Answer: |
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The Singapore Civil Defence Force has a fleet of
30 ambulances operating daily to respond to emergency calls. |
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In addition, it has 18 Fast Response Paramedics on
bikes that can respond to emergency calls quickly. |
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The ambulances and Fast Response Paramedics on
bikes are deployed at 14 fire stations and 22 satellite fire posts
strategically located throughout Singapore to provide wide coverage. |
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The number of ambulance calls has steadily
increased in the last 4 years, from 67,000 calls in 2000 to 79,000 calls in
2003. |
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Between Jan and Sep 2004, the SCDF responded to
62,000 ambulance calls, or an average of 226 calls per day. |
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Of these, 90% (55,500) of the cases were found to
truly require the presence of ambulances and on-site first aid. |
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Currently, SCDF has sufficient ambulances and Fast
Response Paramedics on bikes to respond to emergency cases. |
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Between Jan and Sep 2004, the SCDF responded to
83% of the calls within 11 minutes as compared to 64% in 2001. |
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This significant improvement can partly be
attributed to the establishment of satellite fire posts in our HDB heartlands
in 2001, thus, bringing emergency services closer to the community. |
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However, the increased demand for the service is a
cause for concern. The public can also help by not calling 995 for
non-emergency cases. |
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They should instead call 1777 for such cases,
because each time the Emergency Ambulance Service attends to a non-emergency
call, it is less able to respond in time to a real emergency. |
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Source:
Ministry of Home Affairs Press Release 16
Nov 2004 |
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