Don't abuse emergency services, staff told
The Fire Services Department has issued an order to prevent misuse of ambulances and is considering what action to take against a senior staff member found to have done so.
This follows an inquiry into complaints against the senior ambulance officer, some of which the Security Bureau said yesterday had been fully or partly substantiated.
In one of the complaints, which were lodged by colleagues, the 50-year-old paramedic was accused of taking an ambulance home to make soup while on duty in January last year.
He was also alleged to have improperly diverted ambulances in two other cases to serve injured family members including his wife.
In a reply to the Legislative Council security panel, a Security Bureau official said the department had found that 'some of the allegations were unsubstantiated and some were substantiated, or partly substantiated'.
The department was considering what disciplinary action should be taken, but the process had yet to be completed, the official said.
But in the meantime, the department had issued a standing instruction to all staff, reiterating that 'they should deny requests from operational members for their fire appliances or ambulances to be tasked to handle particular cases solely because the cases involve their family members'.
The Fire Services Department launched an initial investigation after the complaints were filed last year.
In November, the ambulance officer, who has worked for more than 20 years, was transferred from the Sham Tseng depot to the Tsing Yi depot and given a warning letter.
