DOHA: An all-female ambulance service could soon be a reality in Qatar where there are frequent requests for it.
A trainer in Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Ambulance Department says several women are being trained for the service.
Ahmed Nafiz Assobashi, however, gave no time-frame for the introduction of the service, in an interview published by local Arabic daily Al Watan yesterday.
There are four ambulances with female staff at mid-Doha ‘standby’ station centre.
Assobashi said they are dispatched when requests for such ambulances come in. “This service will continue until an all-women ambulance is introduced,” he added.
He, though, added that a male member of a woman’s family must accompany her if she is taken for emergency care in an ambulance.
According to Assobashi, when a request for ambulance is made on 999, an ambulance is dispatched within 45 seconds and reaches the caller’s home within 10 minutes. The nearest ‘standby’ ambulance centre is informed about it.
There are five ‘standby’ ambulance centres across Qatar, and each has some 10 ambulances to be pressed into service any time. This is aside from the main ambulance centre. Qatar is divided into seven zones for the service — Ambulance Hubs 1 to 7. The Industrial Area is Hub 7. Al Khor, Al Wakra, mid-Doha, West Bay, Al Dafna and Al Rayyan are the others. There are also three ambulance helicopters called air ambulance, as part of HMC’s Ambulance Service.
Ambulance drivers are trained and skilled. They and other ambulance staff are on 12-hour duty for four days in a row and then get rest for four consecutive days.
On two days, the 12-hour duty is during day time and then staff must have night shift. As soon as a driver reports on duty, he must inform the main centre on the wireless. He is put on standby and ordered to leave as soon as a request comes in from the area that is part of his ‘standby’ centre’s jurisdiction.
Ambulance staff call the house from where the request has come and enquire about the patient to know what kind of emergency it is. If the situation is critical, the ambulance’s alarm system is activated and staff get ready to deal with the emergency, said Assobashi The Peninsula
