MANDAUE City’s disaster managers are requesting the City Government to get more ambulances.
Felix Suico, head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO), said the City only has one ambulance and it is already obsolete.
He raised the problem last Thursday as City officials presented their initiatives under the Performance Governance System, a good governance framework the City is adopting with the help of the Institute Solidarity for Asia.
“We really lack transportation services when it comes to medical emergency response,” Suico told reporters.
Suico said he made the request for three more ambulances around June last year but the bidding process has been slow.
5 ambulances
But he said Mayor Jonas Cortes has plans to have three ambulances bought by the middle of the year and another two later this year.
Suico said the City wants to have an ambulance each for the Bantay Mandaue 161 Command Center sub-stations in Barangay Subangdaku and Barangay Basak.
Emergency
The command center, is located in Barangay Centro, receives emergency calls.
The City aims to establish two more sub-stations in Barangay Umapad and Maguikay.
The sub-stations are intended to allow paramedics to respond to emergencies more quickly.
Suico said the command center’s only ambulance is used to respond to an average of 17 to 24 medical emergencies every day.
“We had to tap barangays with ambulances and the Eruf (Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation) to respond to other emergencies,” he said.
Apart from ambulances, Suico said they are also requesting to have its own fire truck.
He said he made a request for a fire truck in February last year yet. The machinery, he said, will be ordered from Canada.