[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Recently, as the transportation of non-emergency patients has increased in Gyeonggi-do, securing the golden time for emergency patients has become critical.
According to the Gyeonggi-do Fire and Disaster Headquarters on the 10th, the number of fire ambulance dispatches in the province increased by 16.8%, from 636,133 cases in 2020 to 742,871 cases in 2021. During this period, the number of transports rose by 10.9% (39,920 cases), from 365,919 to 405,839 cases.
In particular, non-emergency transports such as outpatient visits and simple intoxicated person reports surged by a staggering 168.5%, from 3,248 cases to 8,724 cases during the same period. Additionally, the number of non-transport cases (including presumed deaths) such as unnecessary transports, report cancellations, and no patients increased by 24.7%, from 270,214 to 337,032 cases.
On the other hand, emergency transports only increased by 9.5%, from 362,671 to 397,115 cases.
As non-emergency transports have significantly increased instead of emergency transports recently, the Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters is struggling.
In fact, at around 4:58 a.m. on February 1, a 119 ambulance report was received stating that a taxi had not been found for an hour. Upon arrival at the scene, the paramedics confirmed that the reporter had no injuries, helped find a taxi, and then returned.
Earlier, at 5:13 a.m. on January 13, a drunken reporter called 119 ambulance reporting athlete's foot on his toe and inability to wear socks. Although there were no significant external injuries, the reporter insisted on hospital transport, which was resolved before the paramedics left.
The current 'Enforcement Decree of the 119 Rescue and Ambulance Act' (Article 20) states that for non-emergency reports such as simple toothache patients, trauma patients without continuous bleeding, and chronic disease patients requesting transport for examination or hospitalization purposes, 'requests for rescue and ambulance can be refused.'
A Gyeonggi Fire Headquarters official said, "With the increase in COVID-19 patients, the number of non-emergency reports has surged recently, raising concerns that emergency patient response may be hindered," and urged, "Please refrain from calling 119 unless it is an emergency."
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