Let NGOs take over ambulance
service
news extracted from TheStar
The Government should privatise its
emergency ambulance service at its hospitals and allow
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to take over the service to save
costs. St John Ambulance of
Malaysia commander-in-chief Datuk Dr Low Bin Tick said both the
Government and the people stood to gain from the privatisation.
He pointed out that many hospitals lacked the
staff to man their own emergency ambulance service, prompting them to turn
to
private ambulance services or NGOs.
Citing an example, he said that
St John Ambulance had been running the emergency ambulance service
for Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital for three years.
In exchange for RM130,000 a year, the organisation provided two ambulances
and full-time staff, and paid for their own fuel and maintenance costs, said
Dr Low.
He added that in Sabah, St John Ambulance had also been running the
ambulance service for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital because the hospital’s
own ambulances had broken down.
“The
Government will find it much more economical and I don’t think the
ambulance charges will go up if they were to privatise the service
“In fact, we charge half of what
private ambulance service providers charge,” he said after St John
Ambulance’s central area annual parade in Ipoh recently.
As a non-profit organisation, any money made would be channelled back into
the service, said Dr Low.
He noted that he had first broached the idea to Health Minister Datuk Liow
Tiong Lai in June when the latter launched the organisation’s 100th year
commemorative coins.
Dr Low believed that the organisation, with its fleet of 90 ambulances
operating on standby nationwide, had the experience and training to respond
effectively during emergencies.
* Currently, St. John Ambulance Malaysia State of Penang do provides
Emergency Ambulance Service through EMAS Penang and
non-emergency ambulance transfer service. Check out the service to learn
more.
EMAS
Penang,
Dynamic, professional, committed to the community
