TEN more emergency ambulances are expected to hit the roads from June, manned by paramedics from private operators.

The added resources will beef up the Singapore Civil Defence Force's (SCDF) fleet of 40 vehicles, as emergency calls continue to climb with an aging and growing population.

SCDF's plan to open up some of its emergency ambulance services to the private sector is a move away from current practice which see these companies handling only non-emergency cases.

Getting them involved in handling emergency ambulance cases would also mean these private operators can also be counted upon to help in a mass casualty situation, the SCDF said.

Chief Medical Officer Colonel (Dr) Tan Eng Hoe said on Wednesday six operators responded to the tender which was called last month and by February, details of who made the cut will be announced.

'We will choose either one or two operators, depending on what they offer,' Col (Dr) Tan said.

The SCDF has also made clear that there will be no difference to the look, competency of the crew and the equipment available, regardless of which ambulance responds.

'Safeguards and stringent measures will be put in place to ensure that the ambulance service delivery standard will not be compromised,' SCDF added on Wednesday at a briefing for its fire and ambulance statistics.

SCDF said roping in private ambulance operators would help alleviate the stress its current fleet faces with the growing number of emergency calls over the recent years.

Last year, there were 111, 127 emergency calls made to the SCDF, 9 per cent more than the 101,491 calls received in 2007.

Out of these calls, 79,012 or more than 70 per cent of them were for medical emergency cases such as those involving chest pains, breathlessness or heart attacks.

Emergency calls related to industrial accidents, falls and assaults made up almost 20 per cent while road accidents made up 10 per cent.

Non emergency calls also saw what SCDF deems to be a 'healthy drop' of 42 per cent to 2,481 calls last year compared to 2007's 4,281 calls.

The dip in such calls to its emergency hotline was attributed to greater public awareness.

The 1777 non-emergency hotline also saw a corresponding increase of more than 250 calls to 5732 calls last year.

'A further drop in such cases would benefit the community since more resources can then be channelled towards the emergency life-threatening cases,' SCDF said.

Prank calls however continue to plague the 995 hotline.

Last year, emergency ambulances had to attend to at least 11 such calls every day, a more than 15 per cent rise from 2007.