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This could happen sometime next year, the SCDF said yesterday of its plans to get private ambulance services to help attend to the growing number of emergency calls.
Last year, the SCDF responded to 101,491 emergency calls, 16 per cent more than the 87,679 calls received in 2006.
With a growing and an ageing population, SCDF anticipates even more 995 calls.
But regardless of which ambulance responds, SCDF Commissioner James Tan said that there will be no difference in the skill and competency of the crew and the equipment at their disposal.
At present, no charge is levied in emergencies. However, if turns out to be something minor, the patient pays $165.
It is not clear at this time if this will change when the tender for private ambulance services is called next month. Details of the scheme will be released later. SCDF expects private ambulances to start responding to emergencies in the middle of next year.
The SCDF operates 40 ambulances while the 24 private ambulance operators here have a combined fleet of 85 ambulances.
Since 1998, private ambulances, equipped with stretchers, wheelchairs, portable oxygen tanks and basic first aid equipment, have been called on to respond to non-emergency calls made to the 1777 hotline.
The crews, who are trained to dress wounds and monitor vital signs among other skills, handled 4,281 calls last year, for a range of complaints ranging from sprains to chronic body aches.
The plan is for them to be trained to take on emergencies - administering intravenous drips, using defibrillators and even delivering babies if need be.
Seven in 10 calls to the 995 hotline now are for medical emergencies such as heart attacks, complaints of chest pains and incidents where someone has fallen unconscious.
Traffic and industrial accidents, as well as victims of assault, make up the rest.
Dr Teo Ho Pin, GPC chairman (Law and Home Affairs), welcomed the plan for private ambulances to play a bigger role, especially with increasing tourist arrivals and an ageing population.
For this to work well for the public, however, the private sector needs to step up and perform at a higher standard.
Private ambulance operators said that their employees would need six to nine months of extra training to do the job.
Outfitting an ambulance with all the necessary emergency equipment like defibrillators and spinal immobilisation kits will cost between $200,000 and $250,000, said Hope Ambulance Service director Theresa Yeap, 38.
Hope has a fleet of six ambulances. The company has six registered nurses who sometimes travel with very ill or badly injured patients flown in for treatment here, so dealing with 995 emergencies would not be too big a step up.
But the costs will add up, she said.
Higher costs and training needs were issues also raised by Mr Jagjit Singh, director of Civic Ambulance Services which operates 24 ambulances. He said: 'No single operator has the capacity to re-train and re-equip on his own.'
Both Mr Singh and Ms Yeap hoped that there will be government funding to help them rise to the challenge.
More importantly, said Dr Teo, private ambulance services have to meet the standards set, react promptly and help save lives.
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