Gia Lộc

HCM CITY– At noon on December 3, Sài Gòn General Hospital in HCM City’s District 1 received a call for a motorcycle ambulance from a man in District 7. His wife needed emergency treatment.

A doctor and a nurse from the hospital’s emergency aid station immediately stopped eating lunch, got on their ambulance with equipment and medicines and left for the patient’s house.

Less than 10 minutes later they had reached the house more than six kilometres from the hospital on Lê Lợi Street.

The house was in a winding alley too narrow for a regular ambulance to enter. This was why Nguyễn Hữu Bình, the patient’s husband, had asked for a motorcycle ambulance.

“She had felt nauseous and dizzy and needed emergency treatment,” he said.

According to the visiting doctor, the woman suffered from vestibular disorders, hence the dizziness.

She was prescribed medicines to relieve her symptoms and told to visit the nearest hospital if her situation worsened.

The medical personnel stayed back until her condition improved.

The 46-year-old patient was one of 26 cases for whom motorcycle ambulances have been dispatched under a pilot programme run by the Sài Gòn General Hospital for the last three weeks.

Of the patients, nine were treated at home without transferring to a hospital for further treatment, Dr Nguyễn Khắc Vui, the hospital’s deputy head, said.

The rest were taken by ambulance to Chợ Rẫy, Gia Định and other hospitals.  

After getting an emergency call from a patient’s family, the hospital’s doctors assess the condition and immediately dispatch a doctor and a nurse.

And then, if needed, the patient is taken to a hospital for further treatment.

A woman in District 4 who was 31 weeks pregnant and at high risk of delivering prematurely received emergency treatment from medical personnel arriving by motorcycle ambulance service. When her condition improved she was taken to Từ Dũ Hospital by a regular ambulance.

Vui said: “The hospital asked the Department of Health to approve the motorcycle ambulance service because normal ambulances cannot enter many of the city’s narrow alleys.”

Besides, during peak hours, doctors and nurses can reach patients’ houses quicker on motorcycles than regular ambulances, he pointed out, saying the average time it takes the motorcycles is only three to five minutes.

“Doctors and nurses ensure emergency treatment during the ‘golden hour’ to save patients.”

If patients with hypertension and the risk of stroke, for instance, are provided timely treatment, complications and costs could be reduced, he said.