To preserve availability of timely emergency medical assistance for people whose lives are in immediate danger, the Emergency Medical Service (NMPD) in Latvia has switched to work in emergency mode, as reported by NMPD Communications Office.
This decision was made by NMPD Emergency Management Group because of the rapid increase of flu, Covid-19 and other upper respiratory infections, which results in an increase of received calls and ambulance requests in situations that are not immediate emergencies.
NMPD call centre already receives more than 2 000 calls everyday.
300-400 of them are about patients who caught a cold, have increased body temperature, running nose, headaches and other symptoms of acute respiratory viral infections. This creates risks of NMPD being unable to respond to actually critical situations and provide emergency aid in time.
The switch to work in emergency mode means that if NPMD call centre receives a call detailing low-priority situations, callers will be urged to contact their general practitioner, turn to a local medical institution or wait for up to four hours for an ambulance to arrive, as crews will be deployed for priority calls and situations when people’s lives are in immediate danger.
Low-priority calls usually deal with situations when patients suffer from a cold or respiratory viral infection, chronically high blood pressure, as well as arm and leg traumas that make it difficult for patients to move and reach medical institutions without help.
If the ambulance brigade deployed to a call finds the situation is not an emergency and that patients were supposed to receive aid or advice in an outpatient setting, it is possible the caller may be charged for calling an ambulance.
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