The Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) has recently granted Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) — Ambulance Service a temporary authorisation to install and use a new ambulance Emergency Warning System (EWS).

Under the authorisation, the ambulance service will be entitled to install and use the system on a number of HMC's ambulances for the purpose of test and trial.

The temporary authorisation for the EWS issued by CRA is the first of its kind in the region.

The system mechanism is based on transmitting alerts to drivers who are tuned at the time into FM radio stations and are up to 300m in front of the ambulance; where the alert will be displayed as a text message on the radio screens of their vehicle.

The system will interrupt the radio broadcast and switch over automatically to unused channel enabling drivers to listen to an audio message, which will be given in different languages including Arabic and English.

The purpose of the message is to request drivers to give way to the ambulance.

According to EWS, the new system gives drivers more time to move safely out of the way of the approaching ambulance.

This helps to speed up the ambulances' response times during medical emergency cases.

CRA said EWS over FM radio is a new technology that has not been implemented in the region yet, but it was effectively used in Australia and some other countries in Europe.

In line with CRA's keenness to encourage the introduction of the advanced technology in Qatar, the CRA has provided the necessary support to introduce such innovative technology in the country.

This for sure will contribute to enhancing the healthcare system in the country and to saving the lives of patients during the medical emergency cases.

It is worth mentioning that the CRA has consulted the related entities prior to its adoption of the temporary authorisation.

CRA has also requested HMC-Ambulance Service to coordinate with the concerned entities on the new system.

The HMC's temporary authorization is valid for three months, after that CRA will conduct a final assessment to explore the possibility of issuing a permanent authorisation that will enable installing the system on all HMC's ambulances to be used for medical emergency cases.

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