To facilitate faster response to those in need of medical services, a senator now proposes “rescue-in-tandem” to provide public and private hospitals with motorcycle first responders.
According to Sen. Bong Revilla, emergency response to patients is often slow because ambulances are stuck in heavy traffic.
The actor turned senator filed a bill (S. No. 1120), “An Act Mandating All Public and Private Medical Institutions and Hospitals to Provide for Motorcycle Medical Emergency First-Responders,” recognizing the urgent need to provide a medical response to both medical patients and victims of vehicular accidents.
“Kada segundo, mahalaga sa pagliligtas ng buhay. Kaya dapat nating maabot yung mga kababayan natin na nasa malalayong lugar na di maabot ng mga eksperto, lalo na yung mga kailangan ng agarang pagtugon sa mga aksidente sa kalsada,” Revilla said.
(Every second is vital to save a life. That’s why we need to reach out to our fellow Filipinos in the remote areas, which were not reached by specialists, especially those who need an urgent response in road accidents.)
Revilla added that some health workers have to spend several hours to serve in remote areas.
The senator believes that the response time will be significantly reduced and that patient care will be enhanced if responders can use the motorcycle since it can quickly get through traffic.
However, Revilla’s statement did not specify if the patients would be transported to the hospital through the “rescue-in-tandem.”
Last month, President Rodrigo Duterte considered giving escorts for ambulances transporting patients to the hospital.
Duterted said that transport authorities and police who are experts in handling severe traffic jams in Metro Manila would serve as the ambulances’ escorts.
“Maybe, maybe I will ask all itong — lahat na — Metro Manila, Highway Patrol (Group). ‘Pag may emergency, huwag lang ‘yang emergency na nagmamadali ito,” President Duterte said.
President Duterte’s statement was a response to the Agence France-Presse news release that many patients die on their way to the hospital.
Neither the government nor the medics and ambulance driver count how many patients died inside the ambulance when they could have been saved, if not for the worst heavy traffic in Manila.