2,400+ emergency calls responded to – since EMS launched in Nov. 2016

DPI, Guyana, Thursday, October 26, 2017

More than 2,400 emergency calls, in Region Four, have been responded to by the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) in Guyana, within a ten-month period. Medical Director EMS in Guyana, Dr. Zulfikar Bux explained that Region Four – being the pilot area –  constitutes a significant percent of the population hence the service is necessary.

“As it stands right now, we have managed to respond to 2,400 calls. Some of the cases would have been accident victims, fire victims; some of it included prisoners who were injured. Also along the line of maternal and child health cases, so we have had the spectrum of emergencies and the EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians) have done a good job in actually delivering the patients to the hospitals in a timely manner,” Dr. Bux clarified.

In his report of the EMS performance as at September 2017, Dr. Bux told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that the service which was initially launched in November 2016, is expected to expand countrywide within a five-year period.

“Our plan is to expand by the end of the year (2017) to two more ambulances so we will have five ambulances covering the Georgetown area. Next year, we plan to expand to the west of Berbice (Region Five) and west of Demerara (Region Three).”

The importance of this service had been emphasised with the effective and efficient pre-hospital care being offered to persons in the event of a medical emergency. Sharing his thoughts on the report Dr. Bux added, “It’ s working well so far. I think we have proven with the model given – that with just three ambulances – within the past months we have managed to respond to 2,400 calls.”

With this data, Dr. Bux explained that the EMS in Guyana will continue to collaborate with the Vanderbilt Medical Centre in the USA to ensure that the model is improved and a quality standard is achieved and maintained moving forward.

 

 

By: Delicia Haynes