SINGAPORE CIVIL DEFENCE FORCE'S AMBULANCES (Use by private medical practitioners to ferry patients to private hospitals)

Mr Teo Chong Tee asked the Minister for Home Affairs whether ambulances of the Singapore Civil Defence Force can be used by private medical practitioners to ferry their patients from their clinics to private hospitals.

Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee (for the Minister for Home Affairs): Sir, the objective of the Emergency Ambulance Service (EAS) run by SCDF is to bring victims of accidents and persons who require emergency medical care to hospital as quickly as possible. All persons picked up by an SCDF ambulance would be conveyed to the nearest hospital with Accident and Emergency facilities. The SCDF would respond to the call of a private medical practitioner for an ambulance provided it is an emergency case and the patient has to be sent to the nearest hospital.

The ambulances of SCDF are heavily utilised. They respond to about 160 calls a day. If they are also to be used for non-emergency medical cases, then given the limited number of ambulances, there will be occasions when there are not enough ambulances in readiness when emergencies like road accidents or fires occur. Where lives are at stake, we must ensure that there are always enough ambulances on standby for emergency cases.

For non-emergency cases, SCDF has always advised patients to use private ambulance services or even taxis, if possible. Presently, the private hospitals as well as some voluntary organisations, such as the Red Cross and St. John Ambulance, have ambulances which serve the public. There are also private ambulance services, for example, Heng-Gref, Civics Ambulance Services and Grace Vision Ambulance and Transport Services. I would encourage private medical practitioners to use these services if they want to bring their patients to a hospital in non-emergency situations.