I am hoping that through our expat.com communication channels we can draw attention to a situation that I have long considered needs to be seriously considered by the authorities here in this wonderful country.
it concerns having a national AMBULANCE SERVICE.
(Note that I said NATIONAL ambulance service, because there are already a number of very small private services that operate in some places).
Indeed, I would understand that many readers would raise an eyebrow at this topic. Why should we discuss this?
Well, for a number of reasons.
Firstly, many (if not most) of the expats are likely to be in the upper ages. This of course is the situation with the local people too, anyway.
This is when the need for a life saving ambulance could well be more likely to occur, naturally.
What I have observed in my many years as an expat here is that, whilst there is often a PRIVATE ambulance service, there is no NATIONAL ambulance service.
Speaking as someone from a British background I have always known about a national ambulance service. No question. If you witness a traffic accident or a local disaster of some sort that has resulted in serious injury, or someone having a heart attack in UK, then quite simply you dial just one dedicated, well
know telephone number, Viz 999, and ask for the ambulance service. Usually, within a few minutes, an ambulance from the local public ambulance service arrives, manned by first aiders/paramedics plus medical equipment and they deal with the situation to save a life, or several lives ( in the case of a coach accident for example), whilst they speed towards the nearest hospital.
When speed is needed, this is the way that lives are saved in many countries.
Sadly, not in Malaysia.
I am always full of praise of the facilities and attractions of this wonderful country, but not as far as an ambulance service is concerned.
The hospitals are excellent, with very good A&E departments but they do not have the back up of a good ambulance service.
I have personally witnessed a number of cases in recent years - and right up to a week or two ago - where, very sadly, because there was no ambulance service, someone has lost their life, which might otherwise have been saved.
One of the reasons that I have chosen today to write about this is that I have just read about what Thailand has introduced in Bangkok. A motor cycle (ambulance) service! Yes, honestly.
They should be awarded first prize for inventiveness and public service. Check out the star.com.my BangkokMotorbike ambulances. Two wheeled angels.
50 motor cycles come equipped with life-saving tools and will be ridden by specially trained staff at the hospitals where they will be deployed. Or look for THE NATIONAL THAILAND/ASIA NEWS NETWORK.
They plan to expand the fleet to around 200 to 300 ‘motorlances’, as they are known.
Malaysia has no shortage of potential emergency vehicle drivers, first aid nurses, paramedics etc and this can create more jobs for young people. But the government will have to be persuaded by local people especially about the need for an ambulance service accessed by just one national telephone number, eg 111. But it will be a budget allocation that will reap very worthwhile rewards for a population that needs such a service and that will help its progress towards a more developed status.
So, I am hoping that this subject will resound favourably with our readers and that a campaign that could be called #Malaysia Ambulance Service (#MAS) will gather support in the weeks, months and years to come.
Who knows? Tomorrow it could be you, or a loved one, who will need such a service - and live to tell the tale…
