Recently, a local newspaper reported a new product using GPS technology to activate rural emergency medical system.

A lot was said about it, the technology and funding, however, little was said about the coordination of resources and response.

The project was launched by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti) in collaboration with Angkasa and Malaysian Red Crescent.

How do Malaysians get help in medical emergencies?

They go by several methods. (1) They call their local health clinics or hospital serving their community for an ambulance. Using this method it’s a 50-50 chance of getting help because there is no proper standard operating procedure to monitor the calls or the outcome of the calls.

(2) They call their private hospitals, private ambulance services, Civil Defence and also our familiar Red Crescent or St John Ambulance. The latter two have proper organisation and service protocols up to doctors to advise their personnel. The former may not regulated by anything or even supervising doctors most of the time as there are no laws concerning ambulance service in this country.

(3) Call the multibillion government project Malaysian Emergency Response System 999 (MERS999) for an ambulance.

It is amazing to see Mosti promising ambulance service with Red Crescent armed with only this "we know where you are through our GPS technology" without details on how it will be implemented.

A burning question would be have anyone seen any Red Crescent ambulance serving the rural community? They are mostly catering for the cities in each state.

The government will now spend millions on this. Why not just integrate it? Does it mean the 999 number right now has no means to locate a person in emergency through GPS technology?

We have many ministries and organisations providing ambulance service, such as the Health Ministry, Civil Defence, Red Crescent, St John Ambulance, university medical centres, private hospitals and soon, the Fire Department.

However, have Malaysians truly benefitted from a good and reliable service?

An ambulance service success is measured by several essential component: (1) access to the service; (2) dispatch of an ambulance; (3) response time of the ambulance to the scene of emergency; (4) capability and capacity of the responders of the scene; and (5) the centre patient is sent to.

The Health Ministry has made many statements past two years with regard to ambulance services in Malaysia, from announcing the launch of a helicopter ambulance in the near future to boasting of a new breed of ambulances through social media sites.

There is even a specialist going around the country with the title "Chairman of Klang Valley Prehospital Care Core Team Ministry of Health"; however, have the rakyat truly benefited from this service?

If it has performed to a certain standard, the health minister would not require a PLUS Ronda team to send him to hospital after a road traffic accident and Mosti would not need to collaborate with the Red Crescent.

The ministry is responsible for all 999 ambulance request dispatch and coordination. It is doubtful that even it knows what is the waiting time for an ambulance requested via 999 and how many lives lost in the current system.

It seems to lack commitment and dedication.

At the end of the day, what do Malaysians need? We need a reliable service that can provide us "the right responder to the right place and in the right time".

To achieve that it must be coordinated correctly without wasting precious funds like what we are currently doing. Technology is not the solution but just a tool or perhaps a means to waste the rakyat's money.

Source:Malaysian Insider