Q Should the ambulance service be an independent department?
For a helpless victim who is anxiously waiting for the arrival of an ambulance, a promised target response time of 12 minutes is definitely powerful support.
However, with the increased demand of ambulance services over recent years, the unfair allocation of resources has caused a deterioration in efficiency.
People's lives are being put in jeopardy because of the lack of resources. If the ambulance service becomes an independent department, it will ensure that the budget goes specifically into what is needed to be accomplished.
In the article 'Ambulance union decries lack of staff' (May 28), the amount of budget that the Ambulance Command is currently receiving from the Fire Services Department's (FSD) annual budget is only $8 million.
Without having the binding control of the FSD, Ambulance Command staff could get work done easier because they would not need to go through all the complex procedures and wait for orders from the higher authority. Being an independent department would increase the availability of resources, which would help to accommodate the increased demand. More staff could be hired, and resources would be allocated more efficiently to satisfy demand.
Although it is important to prevent people from further abusing the free service of ambulances, this should be a long-term goal. Since education is the key solution, and knowing that changing people's attitudes requires more than a year or two, it would not resolve this problem in the short run. The short-term solution requires an adjustment and reform of the department.