UAE gets 'Ambulance service for the 21st century'

• Round-the-clock service introduces new technology to the UAE
• Aims for fast response times, highly-qualified personnel

The new service aims to provide fast response times, along with highly-qualified paramedics and next-generation emergency medical technology, some of which is available for the first time in the UAE.

Supported by a team of trained medical dispatchers, the ambulances will operate around the clock, seven days a week, and will respond to emergency calls in metropolitan Dubai, regardless of the destination hospital. Nationwide, the service will be used to ferry critical patients between various facilities, or from Dubai International Airport to hospitals across the UAE.

Described by one hospital official as "an ambulance service for the 21st century," the vehicles are equipped with sophisticated incubators and neonatal ventilators, making it the first capable of transporting high-risk newborns in the UAE. The ambulances echocardiograph (ECG) telemetry systems, meanwhile, enable paramedics to transmit patient data to the destination hospital, allowing for timelier and more effective treatment upon arrival.

The service, led by veteran South-African paramedic Terry Allen, is staffed by eight Advanced Life Support paramedics holding degrees in Emergency Medicine and certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support, along with a team of eight certified first responder drivers. The service's 24-hour Operations Call Centre is manned by qualified Emergency Medical Dispatchers.

"The bottom line is, these ambulances will save lives," said Terry Allen. "The Advanced Life Support Ambulance Service will provide technology that is comprehensive and reliable and highly trained people who know what they're doing and who can perform under pressure. I am enormously proud to play a part in bringing these things to Dubai and the UAE."

Already, Allen added, the service has successfully assisted in the delivery of a newborn baby.

"Having a modern, efficient ambulance service is the hallmark of any caring community," said Mr. Sakkie Van Der Vyver, manager of the Welcare Hospital. "As the population in the emirates grows, there is a corresponding need for more ambulances, and for more advanced technology. This new service will play an important role in its own right, but will also complement the Unified Ambulance Service, ensuring that all areas in the community are catered to."