SINGAPORE: Non-emergency calls and false alarms to the
Singapore Civil Defence Force's (SCDF's) Emergency Ambulance
Service have fallen.
SCDF said the number of non-emergency calls went down by
165 cases to some 2,300 last year. The number of false alarms also
dropped, by about 23 per cent to about 3,300.
SCDF said the fall is encouraging as more ambulances could then be
channelled to handle life threatening cases.
Meanwhile, the number of emergency calls rose by two per cent to
113,300 cases.
More than 70 per cent were medical cases involving chest pain and
breathlessness. About 10 per cent were road traffic accidents and
18 per cent were related to industrial accidents, falls and
assaults.
SCDF's Emergency Ambulance Service responded to some 118,900 calls
in 2009.
- CNA/sc