Emergency Medical Service to expand to Regions 3,6

The National Emergency Medical Service (EMS), which provides timely medical assistance in times of emergencies, will expand to Regions Three (Essequibo Islands- West Demerara) and Six (East Berbice- Corenyne) by year end.

Director of the EMS Dr Zulfikar Bux, during an interview with the News Room on Tuesday, disclosed that the service is gradually expanding beyond Region Four (Demerara- Mahaica) where it initially started in 2014.

To date, the Service responded to 30,500 medical emergencies, 55 of which were successful deliveries of babies in the ambulance.

“The EMS system was designed to have pre-hospital emergency response for members of the public in their time of need in terms of medical emergencies,” Dr Bux, who is also the head of Emergency Medicine at the Georgetown Public Hospital, explained.

The EMS is a service under the Ministry of Home Affairs and one of the major objectives is to provide medical response in approximately 15 minutes after the emergency occurs and is reported. Congestion of roadways, infrastructure works are among the reasons that the objective of “immediate” responses are delayed.

“…the plan was done since in 2010 – when the kind of development and roadway infrastructure that is occurring now and the congestion on the road wasn’t anticipated at that time.

“When we planned it then we did not cater for the congestion on the roadways having a response time of 15 minutes. On an average, I would say 60 or 70 per cent of the time we would meet that,” he said.

Although acknowledging the difficulties with response time, Dr Bux said the system proves to have many positive impacts in high risk situations. This is why the service will be expanding this year.

“We have seen the impact on life and I do think that while we have had a decent coverage in the more populated areas in Georgetown and Region Four area, I do see how this will impact the other regions as we expand.

“…by the end of this year we will get an ambulance stationed in Region Six and in Region Three,” he said.

As it relates to expansion to more rural regions, the Director said this depends on the availability of the resources but he added that these are all areas that are being considered to ensure that the service is available countrywide.

A total of 92 EMTs have been trained and seven of them moved on from basic medical training to the advanced training.

The Georgetown Public Hospital collaborated with the Morris Foundation in affiliation with the Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville Tennessee, to provide the Emergency Medical Technicians with training.

Dr Bux said Northwell Health, a healthcare provider in New York, has also expressed an interest in partnering with Guyana to improve the service.

Additionally, the EMS is working to develop a Smart City Plan which includes making calls to the emergency hotlines easier. The EMS is accessible for emergencies via Guyana Fire Service ‘912’ emergency hotline.