Emergency Medical Service proving useful in process to save lives- Dr. Bux

Oct 01, 2018 News

---

 

– Responded to over 7,000 emergencies since 2016

Since being set in motion in November of 2016, the national Emergency Medical Services [EMS] system has responded to over 7,000 emergency calls in Georgetown alone.
This is according to EMS Medical Director, Dr. Zulfikar Bux, who recently said that the EMS service, which is based at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, has proven itself useful in the process of helping to save lives.
As he stressed the close collaboration between the Ministry of Public Health’s EMS and the Guyana Fire Service to ensure that this service continues efficiently, Dr. Bux disclosed that “to date, the Guyana Fire and Emergency Medical Services would have responded to 7,500 emergency calls (912)….and these were only the Georgetown areas.”
Currently there are three ambulances that are utilised by the EMS unit.
A typical day of the EMS service sees trained Emergency Medical Technicians [EMTs] boarding an ambulance to find those in need for emergency medical care.

The task is not always easy, as according to Dr. Bux, without Geo Mapping at their fingertips, it is often difficult for EMTs to locate some residents. Despite this shortcoming, the EMS Director assured that the response is usually within 15 to 20 minutes. “Without this service thousands of people would have had to find alternative means of getting to the hospital and we don’t know that they would have still been alive today without the support of our EMTs,” said Dr. Bux. In fact he disclosed that on at least three occasions, EMTs helped to deliver babies en route to the hospital and there have been cases where persons suffering from potentially fatal conditions reached in the nick of time.
Dr. Bux made it clear too that it is imperative for a patient in trauma to reach the hospital at the earliest possible time. This, he underscored, has been substantiated by the results of a number of studies which have revealed that many of the people with life threatening conditions who require emergency medical services are more likely to survive if they are able to access medical care within the first hour of their trauma.
“The faster you get them in the first hour that actually helps to save life. Most patients who are coming from motor vehicle collisions or those who have a gunshot wound for example, they are coming half an hour to an hour or even longer after their trauma and we do not get to do the things we need to do to save those lives if untrained people are bringing them in,” said Dr. Bux.
It was against such a background, he enlightened that the EMS initiative was brought into being. “We have been able to help a lot of trauma cases…doctors at the hospital are able to get saline and ultra sound machines and other things ready to help diagnose based on what they hear from the EMTs en route to the hospital,” said Dr. Bux.
He added, “If I was to give an estimate as to whether someone coming in from the road without medical help and someone who is coming with the EMS service, I would have to say the person with the EMS support has a better chance of survival.”
Dr. Bux said too that the need for the EMS service was also seen as important since it was long recognised that with the development of emergency medical services there was need to ensure that people are able to access the service in a timely manner. “While we have been improving care with the specialist doctors and nurses, patients are still taking too long sometimes to come,” said Dr. Bux as he considered the need for the EMS service to be expanded. In fact he shared his optimism that the EMS service will be launched in Berbice by November.
Persons can access the EMS service simply by dialling 912, which is the same emergency number to report a fire. Moreover, the Guyana Fire Service headed by Chief Fire Officer, Mr. Marlon Gentle, has been working closely with Dr. Bux to sustain the EMS venture. Together the two sides have been doing remarkable things to keep the EMS system going in an efficient fashion.
But in order to keep the system going, Dr. Bux said that the support of citizens is also required. “We focus on emergencies so if people don’t have an emergency they shouldn’t call the number. If you have a toe pain that is not an emergency, if you had a clinic date we are not supposed to take you, and what people need to know is that, we don’t take people to private hospitals because this is a public service; it is a free service and we can’t afford to do some of the things people would want us to do,” said Dr. Bux. He added, “Members of the public need to understand that this is a service to be used but not abuse.”

---

---