CAIRO: Quelling concerns about Egypt's ambulance service, the Ministry of Health is launching two new paramedic services in the coming three months, Minister of Health Hatem El-Gabaly announced in a conference in Sharm El-Sheikh this week. The lack of well-equipped ambulances and trained paramedics is a rising concern and poses a particular challenge during emergencies, when the casualty is left waiting for help to arrive. The first is a service akin to that of the United States' 911, where paramedics make house calls to provide any emergency care on the spot without having to refer the patient to the hospital. The second service, scheduled to kick-off next month, is a mobile intensive care unit (ICU) which will be available through the signature yellow ambulances. These ambulances are designed and equipped to transport up to four patients at a time, in cases of major accidents or catastrophes. El-Gabaly said that the ministry has bought 813 ambulances, 740 of which have already arrived, two helicopter ambulances and 50 mobile incubators. The ministry is currently training over 3,000 paramedics, classifying them into A, B and C categories, to be qualified to man the new ambulance services. Dr Mohamed Sultan, general manager of the emergency and ambulance department at the Ministry of Health, explains that during the past two years they have been working intensely on improving the their services. "The [new ambulances] are well-equipped with the latest medical technology and will arrive at the scene of an accident within eight to 10 minutes of the time of contact, he said. Last summer, the Ministry of Health took new measures to ensure the availability of ambulances on highways. "We launched 50 new ambulances in July 22, 2008 spread throughout the Cairo-Alexandria Highway, Wadi El Natroun Highway and North Coast Highway, Sultan told Daily News Egypt at the time. These were 50 out of 1,213 ambulances scheduled to be launched sporadically during 2008 and 2009 in different parts of the country, mainly on highways such as Ain Sukhna and Sharm El-Sheikh Highway.
