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29 March 2024

Dubai areas most 'ambulance-prone'...

Published
By Majorie van Leijen

More men than women call an ambulance; Deira and Bur Dubai top the list of locations from where calls for an ambulance are made; and winter months witness more incidents than summer months.

Omer Ahmad Al Sakaf of the Medical and Technical Affairs Department of Dubai Ambulance, shared some insights on the latest statistics of the ambulance force, which directly responds to all ‘999’ emergency calls.

With around 200 ambulances - of which 70 are dedicated to emergency cases - Dubai Ambulance is geared to provide emergency transportation wherever needed.

At the moment, the average response time of Dubai Ambulance stands at 8 minutes, a timeframe that is to be challenged following the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai.

“The directives are to keep an average response time of 4 minutes,” said Al Sakaf. “There are occasions where our ambulances reach within 2 minutes, too. The motorcycle and the fast ambulance are the fastest of our services. However, the average is 8 minutes, and we are currently thinking of ways to improve this time.”

The demand for the ambulance has made a leap this year, explained Al Sakaf. Although the demand increases every year, the statistics of the first quarter of 2014 show an extraordinary rise in comparison to the same period last year. A total of 36,883 were made in the first three months, an increase of 24 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2013.

“Patients call Dubai Ambulance for any kind of emergency,” said Al Sakaf when asked what the most common reasons for an ambulance call are. “In case of an emergency, the ambulance is the only facility that will help the patient directly.”

The total number of ambulance trips carried out in 2013 was 125,446, which indicated a 16 per cent increase in comparison to the year 2012. While the average number of trips per day came to 352, this average has come to 410 trips per day in the first quarter of 2014.

“Based on these statistics, we expect a 28 per cent increase in the total number of trips this year,” said Al Sakaf, adding the increase is a not only a result of a swelling population, but also of the improvement of road infrastructure and a general awareness towards health.

In general, more male patients are transported by Dubai Ambulance than female patients. In the first quarter of 2014, the male-female ratio was 96.2 to 31.8, a traditional gender analysis, Al Sakaf explained… “Male residents are more employed than females.”

“The call for an ambulance is most likely to come from a public building, which could be any building other than residential,” he added.

In the first quarter of 2014, a total of 7,818 incidents were reported from public buildings. An undefined ‘other places’ ranks second on the list, while the home comes in third, with 6,433 incidents taking place.

A total of 6,066 incidents took place on the street/road in the first three months of 2014.

“We usually receive more ambulance calls in the months from October until January. This is the period when most of the big events are held and when tourists flock to Dubai. There are more people in the emirate during these months.

“The calls peak a little on Thursday, although Wednesday was the busiest day on average in the first quarter of 2014. From day to day, the calls peak from 7pm until midnight.”

Areas where most ambulance services were delivered are Deira and Bur Dubai, he explained. While Deira topped the list in 2013, Bur Dubai was the location with the highest number of incidents in the first quarter of 2014.

At the moment, Sakaf is confident to say that any location in the emirate can be reached by Dubai Ambulance. “Only some places in the desert may be challenging to reach, but we have four-wheel drives dedicated to such areas.

“We have 20 types of ambulance services, each dedicated to specific situations,” he continues. “For locations with narrow streets we have motorbikes and bicycles. We have three ambulance buses for crisis situations, and several ambulances that can reach a location faster than any other ambulance services; these are employed for the first aid required.”

Further, a mama ambulance, specially designed for women who are about to deliver; a heavyweight ambulance; and a wheelchair ambulance belong to the fleet of Dubai Ambulance.