New plan for rescues in under 8 minutes
Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- In a bid to reduce thousands of deaths, rescue services plan to get medical help within eight minutes to victims with severe accident and emergency injuries.

"If we could get to the patients within eight minutes, we could save [many] lives and also reduce the cost of treatment while rescuing them," National Emergency Medical Institute (NEMI)'s newly elected secretary-general Dr Anucha Settasathian said.

At present, the emergency response team can arrive at a scene of an accident within an average 10 minutes - but this period is often not enough to save patients' lives. Improved responses was part of a National Emergency Medical Service Plan to better the quality of medical rescue.

"We will improve the capacity of emergency medical services and create more rescue networks of medical staff as soon as possible," Anucha said. Under the four-year-plan from 2013-2017, NEMI will reduce travel time to accident scenes and stand-by around the clock to provide emergency medical services.

To date, there are about 15,000 emergency ambulances across the country. Last year alone, the emergency response teams saved the lives of over 2 million victims. NEMI predicts this number will increase to 4 million a year in the next four years.

Critical conditions which need emergency treatment include severe injury from road accidents, coronary heart disease, mother and child symptoms, and giving birth.

Such cases have the highest number of patients receiving emergency medical services, followed by road accidents.

But at present there are only 247 emergency medical physicians to provide emergency services around the country, according to the health research and development office. Each emergency medical physician has to work at least 300 hours a month in rescue efforts.

Thailand needs at least 1,200 medical doctors to treat emergency patients.

Also, the Kingdom needs 1,400 to 1,500 emergency nurses to take care of patients.

To help critically hurt patients the government last year started a healthcare scheme providing unlimited emergency medical treatment for patients registered with three national health care schemes - the National Health Security Fund, Social Security Fund, and Civil Servant Medical Benefit Fund.

Last year, 14,525 people covered by the three schemes underwent emergency treatment from April 1 to December 31.

The government had paid Bt254 million in support to the scheme.

The National Health Security Office said the most common illnesses found among emergency patients were respiratory, severe abdominal pain, diarrhoea, bowel inflammation, appendicitis, cases who stopped breathing, cardiovascular, high fever, exhaustion, neurological and brain problems.


-- The Nation 2013-03-19

Yet they would not help finance a emergency unit type of hospital in Chalong

It often take 15~20 minutes to simply get to the intersection, a couple hundred meters from my soi!

Arriving on the scene faster is a good thing, but based on what I've seen, the rescue vehicles which show-up have little to no medical equipment and just a thin mat to lay the injured on. Then it's a bumpy ride to the hospital in a vehicle that's not much more than a DMax truck with some flashing lights and stickers. Now if those 15,000 emergencies ambulances they are talking about are the ambulances you normally see parked at hospitals they seemed to primarily get used to transport people between hospitals or home versus going out to accidents/emergencies....and they don't have much medical equipment either as I've seen inside several...they seem to be more of a stable patient transport vehicle versus an emergency care vehicle.

But as said, just getting to the accident faster should help, however I think they really need better equipped ambulances/rescue vehicles (and I don't mean just more lights and cool stickers) along with the skilled medical personnel.

The 'Hospital Ambulances' are no good in an emergency, they take too long to get to the victim, traffic is simply too poor and as of yet the road culture whereby the traffic moves out of the way for emergency vehicles does not yet exist.

That said, even publicly acknowledging the issue is a starting point.

I'd like to see more training for the 'body snatchers' and some form of legislation in place to regulate that service.

Additionally greater measures can be taken to reduce injuries by enforcing police to be stricter with the 'no helmet issue'... passing legislation for vehicles to 'chime' when seat belts are not worn etc... simple measures, big results...

I just read, recently, where hospitals were paying ambulance services to bring patients to them. God help you if you get stuck in traffic going to the farther hopital because it pays a larger bounty.

edited to add: someone should invent a Motorclyle Ambulance that could get through traffic quickly.

Until heavy fines are placed on ignorant road users in Thailand to allow emergency vehicles through, this whole article is a waste of time. Sirens that cannot be heard, drivers who don't know how to use the vehicle to bypass blockages (to the other side of the road if necessary), and to badger vehicles to move out of the way by blowing horns etc, it just simply will not be effective whatsoever.

An added danger here is If 2 competing ambulances arrive at the same time the casualty may get shot in the crossfire...

I think in Thailand - trained paramedics on bikes would be a fantastic solution.

Calling International Rescue

I think in Thailand - trained paramedics on bikes would be a fantastic solution.

This is a great idea. There are enough fast food delivery bikes about, a paramedic could carry a decent amount of medical equipment in one of those stow boxes on the back, and get through the traffic far quicker, providing valuable medical treatment while waiting for the ambulance to (eventually) arrive.

As long as bystanders are more occupied with taking photos and videos for Facebook and Youtube instead of giving some simple First Aid, nothing is going to change. It is the first few minutes after an accident that decide whether the victim will survive/become permanently handicapped or not.

I doubt that Thai motorists have a usable First Aid kit in their vehicles and even if, they most certainly know nothing about giving first Aid at an accident site.

The BiB's attitude of trying to scam any Samaritan by accusing him of involvement in the accident doesn't help either.

And let us not forget that the first thing in this country you do when you have an accident is to flee the scene - as it is without any consequences and will give you vital time to sober up. You can even make a deal with the police when you will drop by.

Whether an ambulance arrives in an average of 8 or 10 minutes is IMHO purely cosmetic as both times are too long. And as traffic in Bangkok is getting worse every year I expect the time an ambulance needs to arrive will most probably increase instead.

Fantasy levels are increasing to ultra fantasy. More rhetoric without any concept of reality. Talk about a fantasy long enough (lie), others will think it's true.

Does not matter if the "ambulance" arrives in 8 or 80 minutes when the

ambulance it a pick up truck with with untrained "paramedics" and no

emergency supplies.

This 8 minute is a pipe dream in Bangkok as traffic does not move over

to let the "ambulance" pass by. Too many me me me drivers.

But it sure does make a great sound clip ... nothing better than a little lip service

Now each ambulance will be retrofitted with bulldozer baldes and machine gun to get through the traffic quicker.

Calling International Rescue

fab.jpg

Thaibirds are Go!

Actually there are some similarities between International Rescue and Thailand.

Both are run by seemingly endless members of the same family and both have a shadowy oriental figure who exercises control of a puppet from his lair far, far away.

Also, the Kingdom needs 1,400 to 1,500 emergency nurses to take care of patients. - why not take them from the hospitals as most of them only sit around doing nothing in their little nurses' boxes!

Road safety campaigns and strict road/ vehicle law enforcement

Public first aid training programmes

Pre-hospital life support training for police and emergency personnel/ motor bike paramedics/ ambulance paramedics trained in both adult and paediatric advanced life support skills

Designated trauma centres

Dedicated in-hospital trauma teams for both children and adults with full on-site diagnostic imaging and intensive care facilities

Helicopter emergency medical services staffed with one trauma doctor and paramedic (No, I haven't forgotten the pilot)

There, simple enough.

Next.

If the motorcycle "first responders" are anything like the pick up trucks with lights "Thai ambulances", then they will be Honda Waves with a set of jumper cables and a box of bandaids.

8 minutes.

My pizza takes longer than that.

Doubtful.

Ahh the body snatchers, one of my favorite parts of Thailand.

If you thought they were charitable foundations, you would be

very very wrong.. Serious money is involved , which explains the gun

battles these " foundations" have had over territory. These people

need to all be given the boot, and then put in real ambulances with

real equipment with staff with real training. Given the mind boggling

accident rate here in Thailand, this could be a real lifesaver.

Road culture

And if the BIB or a Politician is around you have to take time to go to the ATM to get bribe money just to get an ambulance.

I think in Thailand - trained paramedics on bikes would be a fantastic solution.

Only problem here is it would probably be a bicycle, they'd have to buy it themselves and no one would hear their bell!

R21

I think its a thai dream to have ambulances

arrive on a emergency in 8 minutes but hey small steps?

And if the BIB or a Politician is around you have to take time to go to the ATM to get bribe money just to get an ambulance.

And when the patient reaches hospital he waits untreated until the hospital has checked his ability to pay and then sent away if the cashier is not satified with his credit worthiness. Anyone who doubts this can get names of hospitals in that do this from me.

I think its a thai dream to have ambulances

arrive on a emergency in 8 minutes but hey small steps?

It's probably worth remembering that the "8-minute window" clock starts ticking from the time of the actual accident/emergency not from any 911 call.

If the EMS/first responders team can get the person stabilised, the actual time to get the patient to hospital may, hopefully, be less critical.

I have deleted a nonsensical post about a spider.

I think in Thailand - trained paramedics on bikes would be a fantastic solution.

Pushbikes ???

I think in Thailand - trained paramedics on bikes would be a fantastic solution.

The strategy is used by many countries at large events and has an outstanding record of successful outcomes.

The problem in Thailand, is the inherent danger of a motorcycle moving at high speed. as pointed out earlier in the thread, until drivers give way and respect the emergency vehicles, the proposed solution would result in injury and death to EMS workers. It's a good idea, but Thailand has to change driver behaviour first. Some North American jurisdictions have imposed the move to another lane rule and have reported excellent results in the reduction of response times, emergency vehicle crashes and injuries. Unfortunately in Thailand there is often nowhere to move to, e.g. Bangkok.

Though for the same core reason that so many things here stagger from failure to ever glorious failure in so many disparate fields of endeavour..

No respect for the rule of law.

As a specific, as I was told years ago the rules are that the hard shoulder or "emergency lane" is to be kept clear for just such usage, but reality is that no one cares and no rule is enforced so the life-line, literally, is cut off.