Acrimony over uniformed recruitments in ambulance crews

Health professionals are protesting a government decision to use uniformed personnel in the transport of patients in island and mountainous areas which have ambulance staff shortages.

The decision, they say, will compromise safety protocols as ambulance crews must have special training and certification.

The Association of Doctors of the Greek Ambulance Service (EKAV) stressed that the deployment of ambulances with people untrained in emergency treatment will be dangerous for the patients who must be treated at the scene of an incident and during transport to hospital. “Often even two qualified rescuers are not enough to manage a serious incident,” the association noted.

The act published Wednesday in the Government Gazette provides for the allocation, by year’s end, of personnel from the fire service, the armed forces and local authority drivers to the ambulance service, as well as to health centers.