A fire chief has defended a plan that allows other medical and health service providers to handle ambulance duties to help reduce the heavy workload of paramedics.
The comment emerged after a Chinese newspaper report said the Fire Services Department Ambulancemen's Union planned to hold a 24-hour hunger strike on Saturday to protest against the outsourcing scheme.
Fire Services Department director Joe Kwok Jing-keung said duties outsourced to the Auxiliary Medical Service (AMS) were mainly non-emergency calls for ambulances or requests for hospital transfers. The proposed system could be introduced as early as October.
'We have to re-examine our resources allocation as time goes by. The plan in fact creates a win-win situation for both parties as we can better utilise our resources to provide better public services,' Mr Kwok said.
The Fire Services Department registered a record 584,882 ambulance calls last year, of which 34,175 were for non-emergencies, such as requests for hospital transfers. The St John Ambulance conducts about 400 hospital transfers a month.
'Paramedic workers' heavy workloads can be reduced by letting the AMS handle more non-urgent calls. It will also allow the department to focus on emergency cases,' Mr Kwok said.
