The State Health Services Organisation (SHSO) Ambulance Service has responded to more than 39 thousand calls from January to July 2021 to provide pre-hospital response services, emergency and routine pre-hospital care and transport services under any circumstances and anywhere.
An SHSO press release said that the Ambulance Service’s contribution in handling COVID-19 cases and the operational coordination undertaken in relation to transporting patients who tested positive to COVID from the hospitals to the COVID reference hospital as well as the operation of the telephone service 1420 responding to emergencies regarding COVID, has played a key role in handling the pandemic.
According to the data provided by the Ambulance Service, a total of 9,593 phone calls were COVID related while 29,613 about emergency cases including chest pain/ heart problems, haemorrhage, Â , stroke, overdose/ poisoning, cardiac / respiratory arrest, convulsions / epilepsy, apparent death, loss of consciousness / unknown conditions, psychiatric / behavioural problems, violent assault / domestic violence / sexual abuse, abuse, drowning, gun / knife wound, burn.
The SHSO said that the calls are mainly through telephone and are placed in four categories, Emergency, Urgent, Planned or Routine.
For immediate response, citizens are urged to call 112 or 22887171 and have the following information at hand: Location of the incident (district, area, full address), contact telephone number, what is the emergency that requires an ambulance, the number of victims, provide information in case of other danger and wait in line and listen to the instructions of the call centre.
There are 24 different emergency services locations throughout the free areas of the Republic. The aim is not to lose a single life, SHSO said, adding that the ambulance crew are trained to provide the best possible treatment, thus increasing survival rates, reducing hospitalization days and improving the socio-economic consequences of illness and death.
