St John Ambulance responded to 69 emergency calls on Friday, October, 29th 2021 from all across PNG.
“This is the highest number of cases we have ever responded to in a 24-hour period in at least 5 years.”
“60% of all emergencies that St John Ambulance responded to yesterday were for confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases.”
“We express great concern with the surging cases in Kundiawa and Central Province,” said CEO of St Johns Ambulance, Matt Cannon.
Cannon said that the St John ambulances usually retrieved 3 to 4 patients daily from Central Province, usually for serious emergencies like trauma, snakebite and childbirth.
He said that they have seen an increase in the number of emergency cases with the ambulances doing multiple trips to Kuriva, Kwikila and travelling hours into the Central Province to retrieve patients from rural health centres and bringing them to Port Moresby for urgent care.
Cannon added that they have reached out to Governor of Central Province to see how the Provincial Government can support by putting on more ambulances just for Central alone.
“The Central Province supports one St John ambulance at the moment, but at least three more are needed during this significant surge.”
“We have assured the good governor that if the Provincial Government can support more, we can provide extra basic trained staff for these ambulances, quickly,” Cannon said.
To keep up with surging demand for ambulance resources, St John Ambulance has taken the following steps:
- Starting another class of 16 reservist ambulance drivers. They will be finishing basic training on Monday and will start on the roster on Tuesday.
- With support from NCDC, they will roster an additional 3 ambulances per day in NCD on a temporary basis from Tuesday onwards. With the current trajectory of cases, there will be a need for many more ambulances on the road.
- Preparation to mobilise an emergency support team to help the ambulance staff in Kundiawa so they can do 24hr coverage.
- Ensuring a registered nurse is on-hand in the 111 ambulance control centres to help coordinate responses, re-triage cases, and provide clinical support.
Cannon further added that they have Australian volunteer medical doctors, nurses and paramedics ready to assist in PNG at the Taurama Aquatic Centre and supporting with more ambulances.
The staff are waiting normal visa and medical board approvals before they can travel to PNG.