Almaty ambulance to get to patients 15 minutes after call

Almaty's ambulance doctors will get to the patients within 15 minutes after the call, Tengrinews.kz reports citing head of Healthcare Department Zhanat Kassymzhanova. "A pilot project for modernization of the Ambulance Service has been launched in Kazakhstan," Zhanat Kassymzhanova said. She noted that ambulance cars find it hard to get to the patients fast enough driving trough Almaty's traffic. Currently the average time of getting to a patient is 20-25 minutes. Implementation of the project will cut this time to 15 minutes. The pilot project has already been approved by the Kazakhstan Healthcare Ministry. The funding issues are being dealt with. 10 ambulance cars have already been operating in Almaty under the new system for the last four months. The project will be implemented in Almaty by the end of 2013. "The point is that out cars are now equipped with navigators. The dispatchers can also use the navigation system to locate the cars. As soon as a call is received, the dispatcher can find a crew that is working near the required location. Under the previous system the car had to go back to the base and then set off for a new destination. Now the time will be significantly cut and the aid will be rendered quicker," Zhanat Kassymzhanova said. According to her, the cars will also be be equipped with tablets containing electronic charts includes. Before the doctors had to fill in the charts in writing. Now they will just have to tick the diagnosis and the symptoms in the electronic version. By Assemgul Kassenova