THE MUCH-NEEDED and long-awaited upgrade to the state ambulance service will come a step nearer this week, with the announcement of 75 interview candidates for the first paramedics training course, pencilled in to start in September.
More than 350 people applied to join the course, with 200 going on to take the written exam. The top 75 will now be whittled down to a final 50 at interview.
These will then go become the island’s first Cyprus-trained and qualified paramedics, with 24 expected to fill recently created government positions during the first year.
These would be split into four teams of six and posted to rural ambulance centres in Anthoupoli, central Limassol, Oroklini and Peyia, while the remainder would be eligible to apply for jobs in the private healthcare sector.
“Everything is going well, and we are hoping to hold the interviews before summer. The programme, instructors and the course are all ready (for the first students to begin training),” senior nursing officer Ioannis Leontiou said yesterday:
The government is also in the final stages of procuring 28 much-needed EU standards compliant ambulances, which Leontiou expects to arrive by the end of July or early August.
They were due to arrive this month but the agreement was held up at the communication and public works ministry’s electromechanical service department.
Leontiou said that under the terms of the procurement agreement, delivery of the ambulances was due within 35 weeks of the April contract signing.
Currently Cyprus is served by between 43 and 50 ambulances, each with a driver, who has no requirement to undergo paramedic training, and a duty nurse.
In addition to the ambulances and paramedics, Leontiou also plans to provide training for drivers and nurses to meet the requirements of a piece of emergency services legislature, which is currently pending attorney general – and parliamentary – approval.
Asked what will happen to the current drivers, Leontiou said: “There are currently 87 drivers in permanent posts, with 10 or 11 in the rural centres, and they will keep working during the transition period.”
The nurses are currently assigned to ambulances according to their hospital rota, so these measures will also help to address the current nurse shortages.
Along with the GPS-equipped control room that began operation in February, the measures should address two fundamental problems that have beset the service to date: the absence of an autonomous structure and a lack of training.
