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995? This is a genuine emergency ...

Non-emergency calls down by 47%, but false alarms up

Teo Xuanwei

xuanwei@mediacorp.com.sg

THE public education efforts to ease the pressure on the State’s strapped ambulance services have paid off: The number of non-emergency calls to the 995 emergency hotline plunged by 47 per cent in the first half, from the same period last year.

This means the Singapore Civil Defence Force’s (SCDF) fleet of 40 ambulances is freed up and better able to attend to genuine and more serious emergencies, noted director of operations Colonel Anwar Abdullah, giving the SCDF biannual fire and ambulance statistics report yesterday.

On the other hand, what is worrying is the 34-per-cent spike in the incidence of false alarms — cases where ambulances respond to calls for help but find nothing at the location. There were 2,048 false alarms in the first six months.

The SCDF “will not take any chances, and will respond to all 995 calls”, saidCol Anwar. But he warned that callers who deliberately raise false alarms will be reported to the police.

More people are now aware of the 1777 hotline for less severe ailments such as fevers and slight burns. Ten out of the25 private ambulance operators here respond to the 1777 calls. Several that Today spoke to said, without revealing specific figures, that they have seen a spike in calls received.

For the first six months, SCDF logged 55,744 emergency calls, a 12-per-cent increase over the same period last year.

The rising number of emergency cases over recent years — largely attributable to the ageing population here — had seen the SCDF announcing in June that it would parcel out some emergency services to private ambulances by the middle of next year.

While some private operators arehesitant to take up some of the load because of cost factors, others plan to add more vehicles and equipment.

Life International Ambulance Service, for example, will add one fully-equipped ambulance to its current fleet of eight in three months’ time, said its spokesperson.

According to the SCDF, medical cases, such as chest pains and cardiac arrests, made up 70 per cent of emergency calls. Industrial accidents, falls and assaults accounted for 19 per cent, and the rest were related to road accidents.