Ambulance in 10 minutes

As of January 1, 2013, the Resolution of the Cabinet, which regulates standards for arrival of ambulance on calls, shall come into force in Ukraine.

Thus, according to the resolution, an ambulance must arrive on emergency calls within 10 minutes after the call in urban areas and within 20 minutes after the call in settlements outside cities.

"These requirements may be exceeded, subject to weather conditions, seasonal peculiarities, epidemiological situation and road conditions, but no more than by 10 minutes," – prescribes the resolution.

The category of emergency calls includes the following: if the patient is unconscious, has convulsions, sudden respiratory disorders, sudden pain in the heart, blood vomiting, acute abdominal pain, external bleeding, signs of acute infectious diseases and acute mental disorders threatening the life and health of the patient or others.

Emergency calls are also the following cases: when a patient has suffered trauma (injury, fracture, dislocation, burns, severe contusion, head injury), electric shock, lightning shock, heat stroke, hypothermia, asphyxia (drowning, foreign substance in the respiratory ways), injuries in emergency situations (road accidents, accidents at work, natural disasters, etc.), poisoning, animal bites, disruption of pregnancy.

In addition, the transportation of patients who require urgent hospitalization belongs to the emergency category.

Instead the following calls now belong to the non-emergency category: regarding a patient whose condition is not urgent and is accompanied by a sudden fever with cough, runny nose, sore throat, headache, dizziness, weakness, back pain, joint pain, high blood pressure, pain in cancer patients, alcohol, drugs, toxic syndrome.

Non-emergency calls will be referred to an appropriate institution of primary health care, and in the absence of such an opportunity an emergency medical care brigade that is not on call will be sent to the patient within one hour of the call, as is indicated in the annex to the resolution.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda