1 July, 2009 - Whether for a vehicle or a fire accident, most people in Bhutan would probably not dial 112 first – the number for the emergency medical service. Usually, the police or the insurance company is called to the scene to establish who is at fault and who pays up.

Perhaps, this may be because the current emergency medical service is not very good, as it is limited to the hospital premises as well. But this may change by the end of the year.

The ministry of health (MoH), in collaboration with the Bhutan Foundation, a private organisation established in the USA, is working to improve Bhutan’s emergency medical system. The project is currently in the first phase and, by the end of the year, the medical system is expected to have its first mobile emergency trauma team.

A team of two doctors and three nurses of the Thimphu national referral hospital, and one royal institute of health sciences instructor, recently returned from a one-month intensive emergency medical training course held in the USA. They will now be responsible for in-country training of emergency medical personnel. Firemen, police officers, and even taxi drivers will be trained by this team in first aid procedure.

“They’ll be able to treat injured and ailing people on the scene,” said Dr Gosa Pemba, a member of the new emergency team, “so valuable time won’t be lost while we’re trying to get there.” Taxi drivers would be included because they can be found everywhere, he explained, and it was logical for firemen and police to be trained, as they were usually the first on the scene of any disaster.

Dr Pemba said plans were also underway to acquire “real ambulances like those you see in Hollywood movies”. At present, the medical system has only transport ambulances, equipped with only a stretcher and, sometimes, an oxygen tank.

With fully equipped ambulances, emergency medical personnel could treat patients either at the scene or on the way to the hospital. “This will increase the chances of survival,” said Dr Pemba.

Bhutan Foundation, which has funded the entire project with USD 470,000 will also be donating the first fully equipped EMS ambulance at the end of the year.

Meanwhile, class 12 graduates will be recruited by MoH to establish teams to accompany the ambulance at all times, as existing medical personnel cannot be spared by the already shorthanded medical system.