SINGAPORE – Paramedics received fewer calls for emergency medical services last year – the first overall drop in numbers since 2000.
The decline can be attributed to the “sharp decrease” in non-emergency and false alarm calls, said the Singapore Civil Defence Force’s (SCDF) annual report on Friday (Feb 5).
It added that fewer traffic and workplace accidents during and after the circuit breaker also contributed to the drop in calls.
The SCDF responded to 190,882 calls for emergency medical services last year, or about 520 calls a day – a 0.3 per cent drop from 2019.
These included 175,953 that were emergencies – up 1.2 per cent from 2019 and the lowest increase in 20 years.
Around 80 per cent of the emergencies were medical-related, such as heart attacks.
Trauma cases from industrial accidents, falls and assaults made up 16 per cent of the calls while the remaining 4.5 per cent were related to road accidents.
Emergency calls involving those aged 65 and above remained the highest proportion among all age categories last year at around 43 per cent.
The number of non-emergency calls decreased by 16.1 per cent to 8,835 last year, while false alarms calls also dropped – down 14.1 per cent to 6,094 last year.
These were due in part to more people staying at home amid the pandemic and SCDF efforts to inform the public not to call “995” for non-emergencies.
The SCDF also conveyed about 2,000 Covid-19 positive cases to hospital and around 8,300 suspect cases, of which 60 or so were later diagnosed as Covid-19 positive.
There were 1,877 fire calls last year, 34.4 per cent down from 2019.
“This was largely due to the significant decrease in vegetation fires (last year) due to shorter periods of dry weather,” the SCDF said.
Incidents in non-building premises, such as vegetation and vehicle fires, dropped by around 63 per cent to 437 last year.
The number of fires involving personal mobility devices (PMDs) decreased by about 59 per cent from 2019, but those involving power-assisted bicycles (PABs) doubled to 26.
It added that around 67 per cent of the fires involving PMDs and PABs occurred in residential premises.
“Members of the public who own PABs and PMDs should continue to be vigilant when handling their devices as these fires can result in casualties and serious damage to property,” the SCDF said.
Visual guides for 995 callers
Some callers for emergency medical services will receive visual guides from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) from March 1.
These will be in the form of moving images that play over and over again to assist callers to render immediate aid to the victim at the scene.
They will be sent through a link via SMS to 995 callers for the following cases:
– choking in adults and infants;
– performing of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR); and
– using an automated external defibrillator (AED).
The SCDF said the guides will augment the pre-arrival instructions given by its Operations Centre specialists over the phone. These instructions guide 995 callers on the step-by-step process of performing CPR, using the AED or performing the Heimlich Manoeuvre on choking victims.
The SCDF hopes that the guides will give 995 callers an added boost of confidence when they are rendering assistance to a victim.
“The SCDF would like to encourage members of the public to learn life-saving skills like CPR and AED, as well as sign up as Community First Responders by downloading the myResponder mobile application, so that they can be rapidly activated to save someone nearby who may need help,” it added.
