Hong Kong Paramedics
Ambulance paramedics save lives on a daily basis. And not just any lives, but those that hinge on how fast they receive medical treatment. Every second counts for our city’s first responders, and whether it’s up high-rises or through heavy traffic, Hong Kong presents a unique set of challenges for those in need.
Day In, Day Out
The government’s ambulance command center is obliged to send a team of medics out to for each and every 999 call they receive, which number nearly 2,000 daily. Compare that to the 200 calls made daily to firefighters, and that means a lot of ambulances on the move.
From the second your call is picked up, the government promises that an ambulance will reach the scene of the emergency in 12 minutes. Broken down, that’s two minutes for the operator to assess your situation and dispatch an ambulance, and 10 minutes for the medics to get to the scene.
Each ambulance contains three qualified emergency technicians: a driver, an IC (person-in-charge) and an attendant. “We take either the morning or night shift, each lasting 12 hours,” says Chan Shi-kai, a medic of 32 years who is stationed at the Ma On Shan ambulance depot. “We get two days off, after two day shifts and one night shift,” he says, adding that while his team typically takes six or seven calls per shift, those on Kowloon side are dispatched more than 10 times in a work day. While lesser-known to the public, the Hong Kong St. John Ambulance also provides all-day emergency services—one of the few NGOs in the world to do so voluntarily and for free.
Since St. John has only 14 ambulances (the government has more than 300), the dispatchers notify their callers if they know they won’t satisfy the 12 minute response time. If they can’t make it within 20 minutes, they advise patients to call 999 instead.
Race against time
Here’s an impressive stat: more than 92 percent of calls made to 999 meet the promised 12 minute time limit. But how, given our criminally congested roads? While ambulance drivers are legally exempt from road regulations during emergency situations, the drivers we spoke to were adamant that speeding and running red lights isn’t the most effective way to get to a scene quickly, especially on highways.
One effective tactic is termed “Moses Crossing the Red Sea.” “We drive the ambulance in between the lanes,” explains superintendent Lung Ngai-cheung of the St John ambulance brigade. “Drivers will move to the side and create this space for our vehicle to pass through.”