Nationwide service eyed for St John ambulance

By Louisah Frank
Plans are underway to make
St John Ambulance services operate nationally.
“The 10-year plan for nationally coordinated ambulance and pre-hospital care will set the foundation for a national ambulance service led by St John Ambulance in partnership with the Department of Health,” Minister for Health Sir Puka Temu said.
Sir Puka said he made a commitment to take a bill to Parliament to make St John Ambulance a national organisation.
Cabinet has given a grant of about K300,000 but Sir Puka said it was not enough and was pushing for K9 million, with its operational budget to be included in the national budget.
“Ambulance services provided at the provincial and district levels are not providing the expected results which goes to show the country needed a more reliable ambulance service with proper facilities and professionally trained paramedics and ambulance officers.” Sir Puka said.
He said the 10-year plan was in place to ensure that people did not die or suffer a preventative disability because they were not able to receive ambulance and pre-hospital care in an emergency.
The minister is pushing for laws to be updated to protect ambulance officers and facilities and emphasised that people should respect and look after ambulance facilities and officers because they brought medical treatment to them.
St John Ambulance will extend its services to East New Britain by the end of this year.
Commissioner for St John Matthew Cannon said they were committed to providing instant medical care and first-aid to those who needed immediate attention.