Emergency Medical Services recording highest daily calls – Benn

The Emergency Medical Services (EMS) has been recording the highest traffic in daily calls, and first responders have been highly successful in providing such assistance onsite.
Home Affairs Minister, Robeson Benn on Friday expressed his satisfaction with the level of services provided by the EMS, which has been reporting about 20 calls every day. For this, he announced an expansion to cater adequately to the country’s demand.
“One of the successes we’ve been having in the operations of the Emergency Medical Services, the ambulance service has the most calls on a daily basis in respect to callouts. Eighteen to 20 calls per day relate to the ambulance services. We’re expanding that service along with the new fire stations we’re building.”
“They carry people to the hospitals for the medical interventions to be done and they have been fairly well successful and we have to upgrade their training to the point where they can provide more efficacious services on site when they arrive,” the Minister shared at an event.
He pointed out that they are seeking to expand all areas of response under the ambit of the Guyana Fire Service, given the devastation that usually follows such incidents. As of last year, there was a decline in the number of fires when compared to 2020.
As of October 2021, the GFS had responded to over 830 reports of fire for the year – a 43 per cent decline when compared to the same period for 2020. Calls were pegged at 1469 within that reporting period.
“We’ve had a reduction in fires overall last year…We’re proud about those things but we want to improve further and we want to move forward on all fronts to have a better and safer environment in Guyana, not only for the way we live and relate to each other but to develop the country. When the fires come, they are of no respect to race, religion, ethnicity or anything. Everybody is affected.”
Last year, calls to the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system increased by over 50 per cent, after 5488 calls were made to the unit. Since the launch of the EMS Division in 2016, data as of this month indicates that 30 babies have been delivered at the hands of Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), 15 of whom were delivered in 2021.
In the coming months, persons will be trained by EMS and physician instructors from the USA and Guyana before completing the course and becoming certified EMTs.
The Advanced EMT programme will increase our local EMTs’ educational level from basic to advanced, providing them with life-supporting skills to better serve the Guyanese population. Upon successful completion of the training, the new advanced EMTs will be able to train other junior technicians which will increase human resources in the field.
In Guyana, 912 is the emergency number to reach the Guyana Fire Service and EMS programme where trained dispatchers will determine the nature of the call and then dispatch the proper response unit. Some of the services provided by our EMTs include CPR, basic life support, prehospital trauma life support, bleeding control, baby deliveries and breathing control. (G12)