AROUND 50 people die every year because of the inadequate staff and equipment on ambulances, the House Health Committee heard yesterday.
The committee yesterday discussed the treatment, or lack thereof, of people severely injured in accidents, giving deputies the chance to slam the government for indifference concerning the state of the island’s ambulance service.
DIKO Deputy Marios Matsakis charged that ambulance crews were incapable of carrying out defibrillation – restore normal heart contractions through the use of an electric shock – and asked the Health Ministry to submit specific information concerning the number of ambulances available, their equipment and personnel.
The island’s ambulances are currently staffed by one hospital nurse, and a driver with no medical knowledge.
The Chairman of the Committee, DISY deputy Antonis Karas, as well as Matsakis mooted specific examples of inadequate or wrong treatment of injured people by ambulance staff, which in some cases led to their death.
AKEL deputy Kyriacos Tyrimos said the government services lacked proper planning, saying no one got punished for mistakes during the treatment of injured people.
Health Ministry Representative Androulla Agrotou countered that the government had pledged to upgrade the rescue services and had already started with the renewal of the ambulance fleet.
The Director of the Nicosia Hospital Emergency Room Costas Antoniades said the government had already trained 24 paramedics in Greece while a new programme for training rescuers would begin in October.
Antoniades said the government’s intention was to train around 1,500 rescuers, who would be used to cover needs in all districts.
He added that a lot had been done to improve the ambulance service in recent years, though he admitted not all carried defibrillators.
Citing Health Ministry information, Matsakis charged that around 50 lives were lost every year due to the poor ambulance service, adding that his suggestion to staff ambulances with doctors should be examined.
Antoniades said he doubted many of the doctors who would staff the ambulances would be able to carry out emergency defibrillation.
“It would be a castration of their medical knowledge to put them in an ambulance and have them sit around waiting for an emergency,” Antoniades said.
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