Doctor calls on government to fund ambulance services

NATIONAL Doctors’ Association secretary and chief of emergency medicine Dr Sam Yockopua is calling on the departments of planning and finance to understand the desperate state of ambulance services in the country and fund St John adequately as it is the national ambulance service.
Yockopua made the statement following the announcement by St John Public Ambulance Service that it would be scaling down on operations due to the government’s failure to honour its pledge.
“If the ambulance service is not funded adequately, patients in rural centres will continue to suffer and die from easily treatable conditions – like childbirth and snakebites,” he said.
“Why do you think there is only one recorded death from snakebite in Australia each year, but 1,000 people die in PNG. (In Australia) an ambulance service can retrieve a patient from anywhere, render life-saving treatment and transport the patient to a specialist emergency department that can administer snakebite anti-venom.
“Similarly, Australia has a maternal death rate of around 0.0062 per cent.
“This is compared to 5 per cent in Papua New Guinea.
“What is one of the main differences?
“Women suffering birthing complications cannot get treatment at the scene and are unable to be efficiently transported to a hospital with a specialist obstetric unit.”
Yockopua said countries younger than PNG,such as Timor Leste, had prioritised coordinated ambulance services in building a resilient health system.
“Eight years ago, Timor Leste set up a national ambulance service and now have 140 ambulances connected across the country,” he said.
“This was done before building up highly specialised and expensive medical specialties.
“But in Papua New Guinea, the public ambulance service is being forced to make significant reductions in services provided.”