[Photo: File]
Reports of ambulances arriving late or not showing up during emergencies have sparked concern in Parliament.
Opposition MP Ketan Lal questioned whether current funding is enough to ensure patients get urgent medical help when they need it.
He questioned why the public continues to report delays in ambulance arrivals despite Government funding allocated for ambulance services.
Lal asked Health Minister Dr Atonio Lalabalavu whether the ambulance budget covers emergency call-outs from people’s homes or is mainly used for transferring patients between hospitals and health facilities.
“Despite budgets given to your partner organizations with regards to ambulance services, there continue to be complaints from members of the public that ambulances either do not arrive or arrive after sufficient delays. What measure is the Ministry taking to address this?”
Dr Lalabalavu said the current funding supports transfers between facilities, adding that responding to patients at home would require outsourcing services through ambulance partners.
The Minister attributed delays to process issues faced by outsourced ambulance providers.
However, Lal pressed for more information, including the number of ambulances currently operating across the country and how many are out of service for maintenance.
Those figures were not provided in Parliament, leaving questions over the capacity of ambulance network and whether it can meet emergency demands.
