Kuwait has one of the best ambulance services in the region and today I was invited to pass by the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) Control Center in Subhan for a tour of their operation and a behind the scenes look to how their system operates. Around three years ago Kuwait literally demolished and rebuilt the EMS Control Central from the ground up which how they became to have the most advanced state of the art system in the Gulf.
The EMS Control Center are responsible for dispatching ambulances during emergencies. When you place a call to the emergency hotline 112 and request an ambulance, 112 will forward your call to the EMS Control Center. Their goal is to have an ambulance reach your location in under 8 minutes. This is not a dream goal, this is something they have to do for every call no matter where you are in Kuwait. Even if you’re on Failaka and you request an ambulance you will get it in under 8 minutes. How do they do that? Well I was taken through the whole process and I’ll try my best to explain it below. In summary, it’s one hell of a system!
The EMS Control Center is made up of three groups that sit in the department in three rows. The first row are the Call Takers, the second row the Dispatchers and their are the Supervisors.
Call Taker
When you call the EMS or have your call forwarded to the EMS, the “Call Taker” is the person who will answer your call. Their job is to take all the information from a caller, pass it to the “Dispatcher” and then stay on the line with and pass the callers instructions on what they can do to help (CPR instructions, how to slow down the bleeding etc..). The Call Taker’s have three screens in front of them. One of the screens is basically the phone, it has a number pad, a list of important phone numbers and a call history. The middle screen is where the Call Taker fills in information like the type of event that occurred (accident, heart attack, fainting etc..), event address, and caller information. The third screen has a map of Kuwait which updates live zooming in based on the address being inputted in the previous screen.
This system is all automated and very efficient. Pinpointing your location is one of the most important things since it’s what allows them to get to you so quickly. They have a number of ways of finding out where you are even if you don’t know the exact address. For example they can find you using a landmark. Say you’re in Salmiya and the accident happened near Sultan Center. They can then type Sultan Center in their system and the area Salmiya and they’ll have the location displayed on their map. Say you’re on the highway on the way to Wafra and an accident occurred but there are no landmarks around just an empty desert. Then they will instruct you to find the nearest lamppost and read the numbers on the side of it. Each lamppost has a unique number which the EMS can use to pinpoint your exact location. Once they have your location the Call Taker will send it to the Dispatchers (more on them in a bit) and a new screen then pops up with step by step instructions the Call Taker can pass on to the caller. The step by step instructions depend on the over the phone diagnosis so in case a person is suffocating the following instruction would pop up:
a. (ECHO) I’m sending the paramedics (ambulance) to help you now. Stay on the line
e. (Suffocation) Remove anything covering the face or in the mouth, then tell me if she/he’s breathing
f. (Critical Caller Danger) (If it’s too dangerous to stay where you are, and you think you can leave safely) get away and call us from somewhere safe
The Call Taker ends the conversation after the ambulance arrives. Due to the fact that people who call are usually in a state of panic, only around 25% of them actually listen and follow the instructions.
Dispatcher
The Dispatchers work behind the scenes and don’t communicate with the callers. Once the Call Taker takes down the problem and address they instantly pass it on to the Dispatchers. While the Call Taker stays on the line with the caller and follows up on the situation, the Dispatcher’s work in the background trying to get ambulances to the callers location. They have a similar set up to the Call Taker’s but with added features. For example the Dispatcher can visually see where all the ambulances are located in Kuwait along with information on each ambulance like their availability or even the speed they’re traveling. When a Call Taker passes an event to the Dispatcher an annoying (an a bit freaky) siren goes off in the whole department alerting the Dispatchers. Once a Dispatcher accepts the event on their screen the siren shuts off. The Dispatcher then does two things, first he sends the event to all the ambulances in the area of the incident, and the second is he sends the event to the “Regional Ambulance Center”. Kuwait is divided into six parts and every part has their own Ambulance Center. All the ambulances are fitted with laptops and once they receive the event on their screens the first one to answer the event in that area takes the mission. If for some reason no ambulance answers the event within 2 minutes, the dispatcher is alerted who then contacts the Regional Ambulance Center to find out why there is a delay. The Dispatcher also has the ability to assign specific ambulances to the events. So say for example an ambulance is needed on the Gulf Road near the Kuwait towers and the Dispatcher notices on his map that there is Ambulance #171 that’s just 0.78km away he could assign the ambulance to the event directly.
This whole process is done practically instantly since to get an ambulance to a scene in under 8 minutes they can’t waste any time.
Supervisor
Supervisors are stationed on a third row behind the Call Takers and Dispatchers in the emergency control room. Their job is to monitor and overlook all the calls that take place. They make sure everyone is performing their duty to their best and they also make sure the diagnosis the Call Taker’s make over the phone are accurate.
This whole system is called Computer Aided Dispatch System (C.A.D) and was developed locally by CyberMAK (Intergraph Kuwait). The system is more advanced then any other in the region (including Dubai). The system is robust and I left extremely impressed. I had no idea how advanced our EMS was. What I wrote above is just the general flow but there are a lot of little things as well that are handled automatically. For example once an ambulance drops a patient off to a hospital they can then set their status as “Ready” or “Not Ready”. If they’re not ready then they have to list a reason (from available pre-sets) like they need to go get petrol or they are heading to the garage. There’s also the gory reason which is the ambulance contains blood and needs to be cleaned. The ambulances also get real time information updates so when a Call Taker gets new information from the caller the ambulances get to see the new information updated live on their screens. Another cool feature is once an ambulance picks up a person the paramedics have a form they fill digitally on the laptop where they list their diagnosis of their patient. That form gets sent to the hospital ahead of their arrival so they can be ready to receive the patient. Then there are other features to make things quicker, I mentioned earlier that the Dispatcher can assign a specific ambulance to an event, to do that all the Dispatcher needs to do is drag the specific ambulance icon on the screen to the event icon and the event gets dispatched to that ambulance. You also have training rooms at the center, another ambulance dispatch room for non emergency cases and even seminars and workshops that take place all the time. While I was there I passed by a seminar that was taking place. The seminar was being given by American doctors to paramedics and I think the subject had to do with radiation effects on pregnancy (I guess they’re expecting something?). Something I forgot to mention, the paramedics are from ALL nationalities not just Kuwaiti.
I always complain about how Kuwait used to be better and how Kuwait needs to fix things and I have to say that Kuwait’s EMS is an example everyone needs to look at. It’s one of the first government services I’ve experienced that has left me impressed.
I’d like to thank Mr Mohammed for inviting me on this tour.
64 replies on “Emergency Medical Service – Kuwait”
Doesn’t matter how high tech the system is, the traffic situation is the weakest link and thats why calling 112 for an emergency is a joke. Also, there is a culture of disrespect for ambulances/police on the road, with drivers instead of making way for them, they ignore them.
100% accurate
That is impressive, but the elephant in the room is the freakin’ traffic.
Emergency lanes won’t help – since no respect for the rule of law here.
I’ve seen traffic get out of the way a number of times actually, but it definitely depends on the area. In Shuwaikh there’s no hope lol
I think it is a great thing they have done! And the EMS and first responders deserve more respect, especially the people in the ambulance they really work hard!
I have to agree with ibnturab we need to change the culture!
Very cool!
So why do they not deploy helicopters similar to “life flight” in the states to combat the traffic problem and design of certain roads that make reaching opposite lanes difficult? I have always wondered that…and I am not holding my life or anybody’s I care about to an 8 minute response, that might be picture perfect scenarios. Having known someone who died here in the early morning hours with no traffic, if the ambulance had been there in a timely fashion he may have survived, so again I won’t put much faith in an ambulance here.
I commend all Emergency Responders for what they do as someone else did above, but again the lack of respect for life in general here and lack of respect for public safety services doesn’t help when you are trying to save a life.
I dont think traffic plays a roll as big as you may think. If you notice one of the maps I posted you’ll see ambulances are scattered all over Kuwait which is how they meet their less than 8 minutes response. Unlike say firefighters who are located in one location, ambulances are located in multiple so instead of sending one through traffic they’ll send another one from the other side for example.
I’m sorry Mark, are you on drugs? I recently looked inside an ambulance and they didn’t even have a band-aid in it, truthfully. It is pathetic how long it takes for them to reach the multitude of horrific accidents on the roads. They arrive hours later. They need helicopters to reach some accidents like in Dubai.
AAA stop talking out of your ass. An ambulance without band-aids? Arriving hours later to an accident? I was there today, I saw their ambulance, I took pictures of the center and what you see in this post is real. When was the last time you saw a guy bleeding out on the side of the road for hours before an ambulance arrived?
90% of their responses is under 8 minutes and as I mentioned traffic doesn’t play a major role because of the way the ambulances are scattered.
Two weeks back an employee at my company got hit by a car while crossing the road. someone called 112 and told them what happened. 112 dispatched cops not an ambulance who arrived 15 minutes later and casually asked us if we needed an ambulance. When were like fuck yes we need an ambulance they called one which arrived in under 5 minutes and this was in morning rush hour kuwait city traffic.
So generally if there is a delay it’s not from the EMS. From the minute they get the call that’s when their clock starts ticking and that’s how they calculate the under 8 minutes response time.
Mark, did you just use vulgar words? Im shocked. Bad bad mouth. Wheres the soap?
ass is vulgar?
Depends whose ass you are talking about.
Helicopters are useless if they don’t have anywhere to land + are much more expensive to fly and maintain. I’m sure they have helicopters they use in extreme emergencies but it’s not something you can break out every day.
Also a bandaid isn’t going to stop MASSIVE BLEEDING lol did you mean bandage?
An ambulance meant for Emergency situation, not to stick bandaids for scars.. In an ambulance they have 4 ambu dressing large, 4 medium and 6 small, and regular dressing large 6, medium 6 and small 12. And also 4*4 size guaze also one packet.More over, pressure bandage 4. This is mandatory in every ambulance. An EMT ambulance will reach the site within 8 minutes. They will drive through Emergency track on their speed of 160 km,which is their maximum speed.if they Come late means, the only problem is wrong address which is provided by the informer. Then the PTS department is a non emergency ambulance service looking similar to EMT ambulance. They don’t want to drive in the Emergency track. They will drive normally. All laws are applicable for ambulance also. Including cameras, if they do violation, the images will sent to their head quarters and they will check, if the ambulance is on case, if they are violating the law without a patient in it, the driver will be punishable.if an ambulance dint make to reach the spot on time due to severe traffic, they will seek help from their helicopter team, which is also available in kuwait EMT. I, personally salute them to do such a life saving Job on extreme conditions like climate, highways, fire spot, even they are in their life threatening situation.Most technicians are from Kerala@ India and Philippines.They are actually the angels of God.
Hey aaaa,,, is the ambulance supposed to bring band aid for you ,, make up your mind dear. Ambulance is supposed to take emergencies ,, not something as you said non emergencies , if you called ambulance for a band aid I think it’s a crime or abuse ,, if the ambulance reached the scene after one hour why didn’t. You report it
Hi,
Sorry Mark but got to disagree with you here.The picture shows that the large majority(actually all) of the ambulances are north of the 208. I live off the 30 highway, by the 210, and often seen amblances with their emergency lights on sitting in traffic with no, or very few cars, moving out the way for them.I do not think that an ambulance could get down to Fahaheel in 8 minutes.It is disgusting behaviour and these people should be ashamed-they are costing people lives. The culture and law needs to change regarding this issue.
The picture is from the demo station. I used it as an example to show how ambulances are scattered and not located in one specific location.
Again…..A Kuwait Mirage!
there is an ambulance center located in fahaheel and also in adan so itsn’t a problem for them to reach a patient.. There are around 20 plus ambulance centers scattered around kuwait.. Farwaniya dispatch group has the following regional centers Jleeb,farwaniya hospital,farwaniya,Sulaibiya,Sabhan,Airport.. Adan dispatch group has the following centers Adan,Fahaheel,Nuwaiseeb,Wafra,Um al hayman, ali al salem base and Kheiran.. And similarly there are regional centers under Sabah , Amiri , Mubarak , Jahra dispatch groups..
and also please note that there are emergency ambulances and non emergency ambulances.. All the ambulances you see may not be an emergency ambulance.. Unlike in some other countries Kuwait has patient transfer service as well this is basically a scheduled transfering of a patient from one location to another it may be from home to hospital , hospital to home or even in some cases home to some fixed location (if there is some function) free of cost.. And also the ambulances may go to garage or as Mark pointed they mahe blood in it and they have to clean it before they transfer another patient..
This practice is standard in the US also.
I am a certified EMT (US cert) and have rendered assistance at more accidents in Kuwait than I can even count. I have a lot of first-hand experience with accident victims ranging from walking wounded to very critical condition. I’ll relate a few stories that may inform this article:
1. As recently as last month I waited in traffic for at least 10 minutes (and watched a police car go around without rendering aid) before I realized there was a serious accident. Two victims with obvious head trauma, and I was able to extricate, immobilize, and apply an adjunct airway to one victim and monitor the other victim and get the distinct feeling that it was taking forever for the ambulance to arrive. One ambulance arrived (another bystander called 112) and did a poor job of packaging the worst patient. This was one turn down the fourth ring road from the big fire station at the end of the road. Fire service didn’t respond at all.
2. One of the best ambulance crews I encountered was out on the end of the 51 near the 7th ring. Single vehicle accident, unrestrained Kuwaiti man colliding with center divider. Unconscious, and I was first on scene. A Kuwaiti man stopped just after me and called the ambulance. It understandably took a long time and I was able to do a lot to stabilize the patient and worked seamlessly with the ambulance crew to do the most text-book extrication and packaging I’ve seen in Kuwait. Kudos to the crew.
3. A few months ago I was first on scene (and these are all totally coincidental, but I seem to have really bad luck) at a Bangladeshi man hit by a car. Unconscious and in critical condition. Very slow response and very sloppy patient care. This was at the area near Sears.
4. Five people involved, Kuwaiti man (cause of accident) DOA, four Egyptian men with a variety of injuries from walking wounded to loss of consciousness. It was so hectic, especially when their friends arrived in hysterics that I don’t remember the response time, but I distinctly remember that there weren’t enough ambulances and while I struggled to treat the most critically injured man, the ambulance crews were dressing cuts and bruises and even transported one of the lesser wounded before they took my patient. There appeared to be no triage system.
5. An Indian man t-boned by a water truck in Wafra. It was impossible to describe the location so we cut a backboard of wood and transported to the fire station. I can’t critique the response time, but they used the wrong equipment for immobilization and it was not working, so they had him sit up to help them make it work. I was shocked.
6. Father and young son (8ish) in a rollover accident. 112 asks if we need an ambulance. We reply they appear okay, but could have internal bleeding. They hang up. The ambulance calls: do we need an ambulance: we don’t know. The police call: do you need an ambulance: we don’t know.
The list goes on. I will say that many of the crews have been friendly and replaced some of the equipment I’ve used. One crew removed my cervical collar and replaced it with theirs so they could return mine…nice gesture, horrible medicine. One final observation I will make: I’ve seen very few Kuwaiti’s on ambulance crews, unlike fire crews which are all Kuwaiti. I for one would like to see fewer foreigners who are here for the money and more Kuwaitis who are doing the job because they care about the job.
The system does seem to be trying to improve itself. I hope it succeeds for all our sakes. I for one am letting my certification expire this month and will not be renewing it.
thanks for giving us your perspective but how come you’re not renewing your certification and what will it mean if you don’t? Will u not be able to help in emergencies?
hello there buddy, never let your certification expire else you wont be legally able to intervene in an emergency situation. You are one of the few fortunate ones, i humbly request you to renew it.
Im an EMT/nurse working here. for the most part youre correct. only the last part is wrong. the Kuwaitis dont have any medical background whatsoever. they just train for 3 months then they act like they know everything. there are a few kuwaitis in the amb stations but they dont go to cases much. they dont like their jobs and are very proud of themselves. some even get additional training to become paramedics. those “paramedics” dont even know basic actions of medicines let alone trust them with dangerous meds like Atropine, adrenaline etc. (which they are allowed to use by the way). all in all amb dept here really needs a lot of changes in order to even come close to the standards of health care.
Sounds like you attract the eye wherever you go
there is a patient report form in the system paramedic has to fill in the details it contains information like the medication given inside the ambulance, they also take the blood pressure, pulse rate etc.. So an ambulance without even a band aid is very unlikely unless it is going to garage or it is having blood and needs to be cleaned
HI Mark ,
Once i met a Accident on Road 40 as i was not in condition to speak properly and i was not much aware of road 40 ,
when i called 112 they transferred my line to Ambulance Dept I Said that i got Injury on my head and its Bleeding , they asked my Address I said I am on Road 40 and again they asked me Where on Road 40 I don’t know near which area i was Then they asked me can i Get and Number Printed on The Electric Lamp As i was near the Lamp i said Them the Lamp No # Printed in Black , Amazed They got my Exact Location and Ambulance Was there within 7 Mins …
They the Staff was also very good ,
Thanks to EMS dept
Computer aided dispatch systems have been around since the early 80’s. I have been a paramedic in the 4th largest city in the USA for 20 years. Now days CAD systems now days dispatch the calls for without the need for a human dispatcher. Other systems such as silent witnes or drive cams have been around since the 90s. Some CAD systems actually go a step further and take historical data to predict where an ambulance will be needed and place that ambulance in that general area. There are various scanner programs on iTunes where u can listen in on larger fire and ems systems as they dispatch their emergency calls..
The system they were using 3 years ago involved a paper and a pen lol
Explains why they took an hour to reach my house 10 years ago lol
from what i understood the fire department is kinda like that now which explains why i see them circle blocks more than once looking for the location.
but they have plans to upgrade the police and fire department systems as well and then integrate all 3 to work together.
*REMOVED*
Could you delete my Previous reply ? Felt it was too personal , would appreciate it though
done.
I big improvement for which I applaud. Who underwrites or should I say which standard is the benchmark for their medical certifications. I have looked into renewing some of my certifications like advanced cardiac life support or international trauma life support and have been turned citing that those classes are only for doctors. If you have any contacts that may be able to get me information on how get into them I would be greatful otherwise I will have to return stateside which is not very cost effective.
Great positive post, EMS is brilliant no doubt about it. They save lives, period. ofcourse, nobody is perfect but the good news is they have been improving a lot.
they provide trainig services for offices to have their staff trained so that they provide basic first aid during the waiting time for an ambulance, by far the most critical time indeed. would be grand if they gave details on how to do so. Its a 2-4day course depending on the hours you can sit. I am certified too, its fun and an eye opener. Recommend each office go have atleast one batch trained.
I agree any progress is good
What if the person is on Failka island… ? they can still reach in 8 minutes…
yeah they can, they even used that as an example. i think it’s because there is an ambulance on the island and judging how small the island is the response time is problem a minute lol
Im an emergency physician and I was actually one of the attendees of the lecture you photographed Mark (emergency management of radiation).
I gotta agree and disagree with a few points:
1. The emergency SYSTEM currently is a great system. As a patient i called them and the process was quick and easy. They dont “send them from HQ” which is a common misconception, they are sent depending on proximity to your location.
Whats terrible is the number of ambulances available, and how many of them function correctly. I have many paramedic and EMT buddies who always complain of the ambulance overheating, sirens malfunctioning etc.. Also the few numbers of ICU ambulances for real crisis. One of them even said “if a bus full of passengers flipped over, kuwait would be at a standstill because most of our ambulance traffic would divert to that bus due to few numbers we have relative to our population”
2. Traffic is our main hurdle. Ive plainly seen how people dont make way to help the ambulances pass through. Ignorance.
3. Lack of training of SOME. EMT’s are technicians, not paramedics. On boring nights if i catch an ambulance in the neighbourhood i tend to evaluate the patient myself and see if they are worthy of goin to hospital or not. Most of the time, they dont need to (a guy had a high blood sugar and needed insulin. None was available in the ambulance, which is a regular occurrence)
So yeh, they system is good. I just wish they’d add more FULLY EQUIPPED, fully functioning ambulances. Not the current 2 ICU ambulances and 1 CCU and the rest are basically vans with oxygen! (not all of course)
yup I know a friend who’s a paramedic and he says the ambulances are shit and they are under paid for what they face everyday.
Are all the ambulances like that or just the old ones? I remember reading a few years back that the government either ordered or received new ambulances so wondering if the new ones also suck.
Think they’re in the process of being ordered.
Great post…This is a really positive outlook.
Did you notice in pic 7 that the ambulance tracking distance was down to the mm.
To see how cars dare to stay in front of an ambulance blocking its way is just unbelievable to me. Some perhaps think they can pave the way for the ambulance since their car is stronger and faster – REALLY the best way to help is to get lost either to the right or to the left!! Comforting post, thanks.
Good post Mark. Glad to see improvement. But you HAVE to realize that anytime a reporter/evaluator/inspector is around everyone knows and everyone puts their best foot forward. What you saw may or may not be the daily operations of that place. Lets hope it is!!
Im an expat working here as an emt. Tnx for the great post mark!
My mother was ill with cancer and passed away 1 1/2 years ago. There were a number of times when we needed an ambulance to rush her to the hospital and I have to admit that I was very impressed. They got to the home within minutes and the paramedic staff were very helpful.
While we have a traffic issue, we need to revisit the design of some of the roads to ensure that there is plenty of room on the left and right shoulder to allow emergency vehicles to move freely.
Thanks Mark for the write up – always enjoy your posts.
I wonder how long the equipment will be operational.
Everyone knows the way the authorities plan for maintenance and spare parts, this way in a year or two when the system is completely broken they can buy a new system.
I see on an average of two major accidents a week on the freeway – south of 208 and I have NEVER seen these people. All I see, is the police with the white cloth over body laying on the ground and some rinky-dink ambulance trying to weezle his way through traffic to get to the accident and these accidents are horrendous. So if they are not addressing accidents south of 208 – NEWSFLASH – this is a very small country and YES you should be available for all the country. After all what about all those rich Kuwaitis who have their challets south of 208, they don’t deserve this service? Maybe they should build an office south of 208 to cater to the multitude of accidents that occur in this part of the country. AND if they are not properly trained, then I have a brainstorm idea, hire a western company to train them so that they are certified as in the West. Get your act together Kuwait!
If the guy is covered with a white cloth, you don’t need an ambulance. You need the coroner’s van.
// After all what about all those rich Kuwaitis who have their challets south of 208, they don’t deserve this service? Maybe they should build an office south of 208 to cater to the multitude of accidents that occur in this part of the country.//
There is an ambulance center in Qurain an ambulance center in Adan and an Ambulance center in Fahaheel .. an ambulance center has many ambulances so I hope that clears your doubt and about chalets there is an ambulance center in Khiran and one in Khiran Resort. Further there is an ambulance center in Nuwaiseeb,Wafra and in Shuaiba .. these all ambulance centers are south of 208..
// AND if they are not properly trained, then I have a brainstorm idea, hire a western company to train them so that they are certified as in the West. Get your act together Kuwait!//
Generally speaking everything western is not good come out of that shell, yes take the good things from every where whether its western or arab or Asian and not just western as far as the certification is concerned, Kuwait EMS CAD has been certified by one of the biggest dipatch organization , Priority Dispatch and yes it is western and they are from USA
That’s phenomenal
I wish they were all TRAINED PARAMEDICS. My best friend had a heart attack 2 nights ago (5 March in Salmiya) and although they did arrived in 5 minutes, the technicians (nice as they were) didn’t bother to take her to the hospital to be checked out – they actually told her to call back if her chest pain got worse. It almost cost her her life. Luckily, her son decided to DRIVE HER to the ER.
I know that emergency services HAVE improved in Kuwait, but as Dr. Taweel stated above, more needs to be done.
Thanks for posting this. It is an interesting read.
Desert Girl, there are so many problems with regards to our healthcare system, but they’re not all impossible to solve. The solutions are there for longterm change, but as you know we dont live in a very “anti-corruption” anti laziness society, and therefore people are more concerned with lining their pockets than making actual change.
There are improvements, be it slight improvements, but they could -and should- be going at a much faster rate than they currently are.
I completely agree.
I remember before 10 yrs or so i was with my friends right near the chamber of commerce when 2-3 people came carrying a person who had an heart attack and i called 777 to request an ambulance and this was the answer ” u don’t have car to transport the patient to hospital ?? try hiring a taxi….
I am curently working as EMT/Nurse here in Kuwait..let me talk about a few words pn the real situation of the EMS system here..Kuwait employs non medical responders and train them to be EMT’s but the thing is,this trained individuls if some have no ethics in dealing with co worker and to patients,as if they know everything not accepting our advise as an EMT/Nurse..they tend to find themselves with no mistakes..as an expat here in Kuwait,I observed some but more on negative aspects as to calling for ambulance when your are on critical situation because they(ambulance) will just load u up n go to hospital without much management..
Hi!
Do you have any idea where can i enroll for an EMT courses here in KUWAIT? Im actually a graduate mo of nursing and I really want to use my skills and knowledge but of course I need to refresh it first by entering such training. can you help me please?
thanks,
now I wantkuwait ems traning.
i work as rig medic i need basic life support tranning & ems trainning
This OLD post is what I found when searching EMS. I heard another accident outside my building, a Kuwaiti hit a motorcycle delivery. The man was lying in the street motionless,, the Kuwaiti was flipping out, pacing in the street, tapping his head. Others (6) stopped to help the Kuwaiti, but it took at least two minutes before the driver went to the victim and started pushing on his chest. The victim finally moved an arm after about 10 minutes, the driver rolled him on his side then back. At the 20 minute mark, an ambulance with lights and siren maneuvered through traffic, just to go past the unattended victim lying in the road. I was in shock. Approximately 10 minutes later, two ambulances arrived, passersby were not letting them through. The 4 EMS paramedics (hopefully certified, but doubtful) showed no sense of urgency. Five police cars showed afterwards. The EMS braced the victim’s neck, arm, and leg, placed him on a board, then casually took him to the ambulance. I watched in horror for 45 minutes. So, the 8 minute response time is a fantasy. I just pray I’m not seriously injured here because the lack of respect from others drivers, the EMS, and passersby, the chances of surviving diminish greatly. Emergency vehicles should use their sirens for emergencies, not to go through a red light. Drivers need to be educated to move out of the way of emergency vehicles, it could be your loved one that’s injured. I’d like to read an update of this article, as usual, when it’s new and exciting it’s advertised, then it goes back to the old easy way. RESPECT ALL LIVES, NOT JUST YOURS!
Hi Mark! This is really a good post… I’m an Expat, working as a Nurse here in kuwait for 4 years. I was just searching for an EMT spot here in kuwait when i saw this old post. Hopefully their system and intervention is better nowadays. I want to Train to be an EMT-B to help this country, share my knowledge and skills that i gained working as an Emergency nurse. Not so long ago, I’ve witnessed an emergency here in our clinic. One of our patients had a vasovagal syncope, bp drops, and the patient was pale as a white paper. Our staff called EMS to respond (since I wasn’t available at that time, and sadly this is a dental clinic) so the first responders came about 20ish minutes and they’re just freaking walking, no sense of urgency, didn’t even check the patient before getting other equipment. That’s the time when my doctor and I shouted at them to atleast check the status of the patient! VS, give O2. I can’t believe it. I doubt that they’re even medically educated or atleast trained.