January 30, 2024 - The South Caucasus News - SouthCaucasusNews.com

Moped ambulances in Yerevan: benefits and drawbacks

Moped ambulances

The Yerevan Municipality has proposed the idea of using mopeds for emergency calls. This presents an opportunity for a single physician to make urgent visits on a moped instead of dispatching a full team of doctors. The proposal is currently under active discussion among both the public and experts.

The most frequently asked question was how patients would be transported to the clinic on a moped. The authors of the initiative clarified that doctors will only arrive on mopeds to offer assistance in cases where hospital treatment and patient transportation are evidently unnecessary.

In-depth coverage of the present data concerning the potential adoption of mopeds by Yerevan’s ambulance service, complemented by expert insights

There aren’t enough ambulances

A week ago, David Karapetyan, the Acting Head of the Health Department at the Municipality, announced plans to implement the idea of using mopeds shortly. He mentioned that the project has started and efforts are underway to find doctors capable of riding mopeds.

Karapetyan emphasized that, as per the Minister of Health’s directive, one ambulance team is required for every 20,000 residents according to established standards.

“According to the official data, the population of Yerevan is 1 million 75 thousand people. Accordingly, we need 53-55 brigades, while we have only 43 brigades. And we’ve already contacted the structure and expect their number to increase.”

Karapetyan believes connecting mopeds to regular ambulance teams is a beneficial idea, ensuring prompt responses. He explained that approximately 20% of calls typically involve complaints of elevated temperature. If the patient lacks chronic diseases, the doctor can reach them on a moped, measure their temperature, provide consultation, administer antipyretics, and depart.

Karapetyan assured that previous studies had examined the experiences of several countries, including Israel, Norway, Italy, and Georgia. The possibility of collaboration with an Italian company, which previously supplied mopeds to Armenia for police patrol services, is also under consideration.

Armenia gradually approaching compulsory medical insurance

The Ministry of Health assures that the government fully subsidizes the insurance premiums of the most vulnerable groups of the population – everyone over 63, those under 18, and people with disabilities

Comments

The head of the “Association of Armenian Doctors”, David Abrahamyan, urges the mayor’s office “not to proceed with this plan.” He cautions that “mopeds and motorcycles themselves contribute to accidents.” Supporting data is provided as follows:

in Australia, individuals on mopeds were four times more likely to be involved in accidents than motorcyclists
in Germany, mopeds were 24 times more likely to be involved in accidents than cyclists
in Sweden, there were 20 times more accidents per kilometer involving mopeds than cars.

“I can imagine what will happen if the ambulance switches to mopeds… An ambulance team needs to be attached to each moped to assist a doctor in case of an accident,” says David Abrahamyan.

The head of the public organization “Right to Health,” Tsagik Vardanyan, comments that, initially, the initiative seems “unusual and somewhat humorous.” However, it is also utilized in other countries, such as Israel and Egypt:

“The objective is to swiftly and inexpensively reach the scene of the incident, following which, if required, an ambulance team will be dispatched. These mopeds are referred to as ambucycles and are operated by paramedics, many of whom are volunteers in numerous countries.”

Regarding the use of mopeds in Armenia, the expert suggests considering the available resources, such as the absence of a paramedic institute in the country:

“The primary issue with our ambulance service isn’t traffic congestion or poor roads, but rather the shortage of ambulances. This proposal won’t resolve the problem but will complicate it by blending medical and pre-medical care.”

However, Vardanyan deems this new idea generally acceptable and proposes purchasing mopeds for clinic doctors to assist them in making house calls to patients. She believes this will also alleviate the burden on the ambulance service.