SINGAPORE'S health services are gaining a new ally, as private operators join the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) in providing the Emergency Ambulance Service from Monday.

The additions come as the demand for emergency services rise due to the increasing ageing population.

The two private companies - Lentor Ambulance and Unistrong Technology - will contribute five ambulances each and they will be stationed at 10 different fire stations islandwide.

However, they will provide services only from Mondays to Saturdays, between 8am and 8pm.

The models of these ambulances differ from those of the SCDF, but SCDF Commissioner Peter Lim said that the equipment in the private ambulances meets SCDF standards and that internal space is not an issue.

And for the first month of operation, an SCDF paramedic will be attached to each private ambulance to supervise and ensure that service standards are met.

Likewise, the crew from these private ambulances will be subjected to the same stringent checks that are in place for SCDF crew.

These measures include random quarterly checks and taking a compulsory Paramedic Specialist Certification Test once every six months for the crew.

Added Colonel Anwar Abdullah, the director of operations at SCDF: 'The private ambulances will be operating on the same principles and there will be no differentiation in the way we regard them.'

For the purpose of providing emergency medical services, both operators said that they began recruiting about two months ago.

Read the full report in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.