SINGAPORE: Starting on July 31, patients who dial 911 for less serious emergencies, like minor burns or low blood sugar, may have to wait up to 20 minutes for an ambulance to arrive.
According to the SCDF, the “slightly longer” response time for these calls would give more leeway in allocating resources and ambulances for emergencies like cardiac arrests and respiratory problems, which call for more urgent medical attention.
This initiative was announced during the Singapore Civil Defence Force’s (SCDF) annual workplan seminar on Thursday, July 4.
According to the SCDF, the need for emergency medical services (EMS) has been on the rise over time. In the previous year, it handled 246,832 EMS calls.
This translates to roughly 670 calls per day, a 30% increase over the number made before the pandemic in 2019. The number of EMS calls is expected to continue to trend upwards, in part due to Singapore’s ageing population,” stated the SCDF.
In response to questions from CNA, SCDF stated that over the next few years, it anticipates an annual increase in these calls of between 3 and 5 percent.
About 12 non-emergency calls are received by SCDF each day, and the organisation anticipates receiving more of these calls in the future years.
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