Lee Jaemyung Points Out the Need to Guide Against "Fake Ambulances"
Ministry of Health and Welfare Distributes Emergency Vehicle Criteria to Hospitals and Transport Companies
The government has established new guidelines for cracking down on so-called "fake ambulances." For the first time, specific criteria have been introduced to determine eligibility for emergency vehicle privileges. Enforcement against non-emergency patient transport and false ambulance operations is expected to become stricter.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare recently developed and distributed the "Criteria for Applying Emergency Vehicle Status to Ambulances" to hospitals and private transport companies.
Ambulances are generally classified as emergency vehicles. However, the actual basis for this classification is whether the ambulance was used for an "urgent purpose." Therefore, if the patient being transported is classified as non-emergency, the ambulance cannot receive emergency vehicle privileges such as right-of-way.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare stated that, under the Pre-KTAS system for pre-transport severity classification, patients assessed as level 5 "non-emergency"?such as those with colds or enteritis?will not be recognized as urgent cases. In contrast, the transport of blood or organs will be acknowledged as an urgent purpose.
The transport of general specimens or medical equipment will, in principle, be excluded. However, exceptions will be made for cases requiring rapid transport, such as infectious disease specimens. In disaster response situations, transporting emergency medical personnel may also be recognized as meeting the urgency requirement under limited circumstances. The Ministry of Health and Welfare also plans to retrospectively verify the legitimacy of ambulance operations without patients by reviewing operation logs and dispatch or treatment records.
This measure follows President Lee Jaemyung's remarks at a public safety and security inspection meeting last month, where he emphasized the need for guidance against basic order violations, such as fake ambulances that only sound their sirens.
An official from the Ministry of Health and Welfare explained, "We have established specific criteria in consultation with the National Police Agency," and added, "The purpose is to reduce confusion in the field and decrease false ambulance operations."
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