Attack on St John Ambulance disgraceful

THE attack on the St John Ambulance workers during the Trukai Fun Run in Port Moresby yesterday is disgraceful.
The ambulance team was on duty at the event for medical emergencies. They had a doctor and paramedic team on standby as a quick-response unit.
They have more than 20 vehicles and two ambulance stations. On average, their vehicles travel more than 550,000 kilometres annually to attend to around 14,500 emergency incidents. St John provides emergency ambulance services to NCD and Central Province.
A lot of effort has been put into improving the services provided by St John Ambulance over the years and those who have used them will attest to that.
They now have a fleet of 12 ambulances in Port Moresby and the call centre turnaround time is impressive.
The latest development being the launch of the St John Emergency App.
The app helps them locate anyone in an emergency. All we have to do is tell the operator our GPS coordinates (latitude and longitude). The app is already in the Google Play store and went fully functioning on June 22.
The ambulance team standing by at the Trukai Fun Run were attacked by a group of people who had fought with ambulance officers.
The group was trying to steal ambulance equipment including a defibrillator.
A resuscitation kit and personal items are believed to have been stolen. Thank goodness the ambulance team was not hurt.
The equipment was recovered with the help of volunteers and police.
We support Commissioner Matt Cannon and echo his disappointment that a small group of people have muddied the water.
What use will the equipment be to the thieves? Why take something that can save lives.
In PNG, the St John Ambulance Service treats and transports about 30,000 people a year.
This is the second attack on ambulance workers in PNG in the past week.
A New Britain Palm Oil Ltd ambulance driver in Alotau was shot through the chest when responding to an emergency earlier this week.
A St John Ambulance helicopter medical team (critical care doctor and advanced paramedic) retrieved the patient from Alotau Hospital and took him to Pacific International Hospital, in Port Moresbhy, on Friday.
The patient is in a serious condition.
Such attacks are unacceptable.
Cannon said that everyday they see people flock and crowd around incident scenes and they get in the way of the paramedics giving emergency treatment. This type of behaviour needs to stop because the ambulance staff cannot do their job “when crowds are in the way”.
Already, there is a huge demand for coordinated ambulance services outside NCD and Central.
St John is working with the governors of major provinces to roll out new ambulance stations and services.
It is time everyone in the community works together to protect the ambulance officers and paramedics who put their lives on the line every day so that others may live.
We extend the call from our good friend Cannon to keep your hands off the ambulance staff.