AMBULANCE STAFF (Adequacy of)

Haji Rahmat bin Kenap asked the Minister for Social Affairs whether there is sufficient manpower for the ambulances as, when an ambulance attends a call from a flat resident, usually only one attendant goes up to the flat and the sick person is carried down on a canvas sheet instead of on a proper stretcher.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social Affairs (Mr Chan Chee Seng) (for the Acting Minister for Social Affairs): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Member for Geylang Serai may like to know that the Singapore Fire Brigade has sufficient staff for the manning of 16 ambulances to cover the whole of Singapore. From 15th April this year, there are three officers for each ambulance instead of two. Each ambulance is manned by an ambulance officer who is a staff nurse, an attendant and a driver.

The canvas sheet which the Member for Geylang Serai mentioned is actually a specially designed stretcher which is also used in the Accident & Emergency Departments of hospitals. This type of stretcher is ideal for use in Housing & Development Board apartment blocks. As it is not rigid like a normal stretcher, it permits the ambulance crew to manoeuvre narrow corridors, sharp corners, staircases and small lifts and lobbies. The patient is transferred to the normal stretcher at the ground floor. Each ambulance is equipped with at least two normal stretchers which are used to transport patients to hospitals.