AMBULANCES ARE SLOW
Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
15 July 05
There are many complaints that the emergency service is not fast
enough. To find out the reason we talked to the executive director
of Emergency Service Michael Baghdassarian. According to him, the
delay of ambulance cars is caused by the frequency of calls. Two
emergency teams are on duty 24 hours. Every emergency call takes
1.5 hours. If there are 4 or 5 emergency calls in a couple of hours,
the ambulance arrives late. “However, the workers of the emergency
service warn the family that the ambulance may arrive late,” said M.
Baghdassarian. As to increasing the number of the emergency teams,
the doctor said that 1 team is provided for 25-30 thousand people,
and for Stepanakert two teams are enough. Besides, an additional team
requires additional costs, and the emergency station with its budget
of 27 million drams hardly pays the salaries and covers other costs.
The emergency service is free of charge (the cost of an emergency
call is 3 thousand drams which is paid by the state) but there are
paid services too. According to Michael Baghdassarian, the average
salary of doctors is 44 thousand drams, nurses 28 thousand. The
salaries of the workers of the emergency service are higher than in
other institutions (for example, the average salary of doctors in the
Republic Hospital is 36 thousand) considering the frequency of duty.
On the other hand, according to M. Baghdassarian, at other hospitals
there are paid services and the doctors get additional pay. “The salary
is low, responsibility and workload is heady. Therefore, we need
professional doctors, which is one of our problems. We invite young
specialists to work in the emergency station; we shall train them to
become good specialists. Conditions for work are not sufficient, but
this year it is planned to improve the facilities of the emergency
station, and we are waiting,” said the doctor. The ambulances are
8-10 years old. According to M. Baghdassarian, the cars have not
repaired at all, whereas the ambulances should be replaced with new
ones every 3-5 years. Especially, that the roads in our republic are
in a bad condition and the cars break down very often. Formerly,
the emergency station worked in the capital only. Beginning with
this year the service will be available for the communities adjacent
to Stepanakert. Besides, the delay of the ambulance is also caused by
the lack of signs with the numbers of houses. It is difficult to find
the right address at night if they do not meet the car. “Though we
try to be as fast as possible, there are always complaints. In case of
necessity our workers inform the emergency team on duty about the next
call by radiophone, which possibly tries to be at the place on time.”
SRBUHI VANIAN.
15-07-2005
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress