JURONG TOWN (Provision of ambulances)

Mr Ho Kah Leong asked the Minister for Health if he will consider setting up an ambulance service centre in Jurong Town, in view of the growing population and the increasing number of accidents there.

Mr Chua Sian Chin: Mr Speaker, Sir, there is an agreed division of function between the Government Hospital Ambulance Service and that provided by the Fire Brigade. The Fire Brigade provides an accident ambulance service while the hospitals provide for all other medical emergencies.

While the Fire Brigade Ambulance Service is centred at its main centre at Hill Street, it has sub-centres in other areas of the island. For the present, there are no plans to set up a new accident ambulance centre at Jurong Town. But this will be considered should the calls for an accident ambulance service increase to justify it.

The hospital ambulance service is a decentralised one. Each hospital has its own small fleet of ambulances. There are no hospital ambulance centres outside the hospitals.