The number of calls received by the Ambulance Service at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) have dropped recently to around 800 a day compared to over 1,050 two months ago.
"The 25% drop in the daily calls for emergency assistance is mostly due to the decrease in the new cases of Covid-19," Ali Darwish, assistant executive director, Ambulance Service, told local Arabic daily Arrayah.
Only five ambulances are now dedicated for Covid-19 cases. The patient transport service was also engaged to support Covid-19 patients as required.
"The patient transport service with 25 vehicles mainly focuses on transporting patients from homes to the hospitals or vice versa, and from hospital to hospital as well, and these sometimes are used to transport Covid-19 patients," the official explained.
Ambulance Service has 111 vehicles in its fleet for daily operations. These ambulances are distributed across Qatar through a computerised programme that locates places from where calls for emergency assistance arise.
"All these vehicles are equipped with sophisticated and most modern machines which enable the paramedics to deal with the cases efficiently and send a report to the hospital concerned before they reach with each patient.
"The majority of these vehicles are equipped with the service of sending messages through FM radio to facilitate an open path to enable them to reach the destination very quickly.
"Similarly, around 90% of the ambulances are equipped with a machine that can turn a red light to green at traffic signals, if required," the official said.
Darwish also praised the awareness and co-operation of the public on the roads over the recent years when they give way to ambulances thereby giving them speedy access to both the location of the cases and the destination hospital.
He said that in cases of unknown or unidentified cases, the priority is given for providing all necessary medical assistance and procedures. Such cases are given a special number under the unknown label to which all related reports and tests results are attached until the case is ultimately identified and the relevant data transferred to the designated file.
"There are 82 spots across the country, assigned for ambulances, according to the concentration of accidents so as to provide easily accessible vehicles as required," he said.
Darwish further affirmed that the Ambulance Service is fully ready and well-equipped to cater to major sport events in the country including those related to the FIFA World Cup 2022.
Only five ambulances are now dedicated for Covid-19 cases. The patient transport service was also engaged to support Covid-19 patients as required.
"The patient transport service with 25 vehicles mainly focuses on transporting patients from homes to the hospitals or vice versa, and from hospital to hospital as well, and these sometimes are used to transport Covid-19 patients," the official explained.
Ambulance Service has 111 vehicles in its fleet for daily operations. These ambulances are distributed across Qatar through a computerised programme that locates places from where calls for emergency assistance arise.
"All these vehicles are equipped with sophisticated and most modern machines which enable the paramedics to deal with the cases efficiently and send a report to the hospital concerned before they reach with each patient.
"The majority of these vehicles are equipped with the service of sending messages through FM radio to facilitate an open path to enable them to reach the destination very quickly.
"Similarly, around 90% of the ambulances are equipped with a machine that can turn a red light to green at traffic signals, if required," the official said.
Darwish also praised the awareness and co-operation of the public on the roads over the recent years when they give way to ambulances thereby giving them speedy access to both the location of the cases and the destination hospital.
He said that in cases of unknown or unidentified cases, the priority is given for providing all necessary medical assistance and procedures. Such cases are given a special number under the unknown label to which all related reports and tests results are attached until the case is ultimately identified and the relevant data transferred to the designated file.
"There are 82 spots across the country, assigned for ambulances, according to the concentration of accidents so as to provide easily accessible vehicles as required," he said.
Darwish further affirmed that the Ambulance Service is fully ready and well-equipped to cater to major sport events in the country including those related to the FIFA World Cup 2022.