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Ministry of Home Affairs
Written Replies to Parliamentary Questions

Written Reply to Parliamentary Questions on the Deployment of Paramedics and Permissible Emergency Response Time by Mr Teo Chee Hean, Deputy Prime Minister, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs

17 August 2015

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Question

Mr K Karthikeyan:

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs what is the current number of paramedics assigned to every fire station and whether that is derived from the ratio of citizens in the vicinity.

Mr K Karthikeyan: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs what is the permissible response time for ambulances to reach patients after receiving an emergency call.

Answer:

1. SCDF plans the locations of fire stations and fire posts, and the deployment of fire engines and ambulances based on factors such as population density and case load. This ensures that SCDF's emergency resources are well distributed to respond quickly to emergencies. SCDF's deployment of emergency response resources is not static, and is adjusted as necessary to ensure prompt and effective emergency response.

2. SCDF currently has a fleet of 50 emergency ambulances that is located across 15 fire stations. Each fire station would have between one and five ambulances. Each ambulance is staffed by a three-man crew comprising a paramedic and two Emergency Medical Technicians.

3. The nearest available emergency ambulance is dispatched to attend to emergency medical cases. SCDF aims to respond to 80% of all emergency medical calls within 11 minutes. In 2014, SCDF received 155,781 emergency medical calls and responded to 83% of the cases within 11 minutes.

4. SCDF recently launched the Save-a-Life initiative to enhance the community response to medical emergencies before the arrival of an ambulance. Under the initiative, SCDF will install more Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in public spaces such as HDB lift lobbies, build a network of trained community responders, and alert them to cardiac arrest cases in their immediate vicinity through the myResponder mobile app. This community response will complement SCDF's emergency response and help to increase the overall survival rate of cardiac arrest cases in Singapore.

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