TEHRAN – Emergency Medical Services Organization of Iran carries out over 3.8 million deliveries annually to provide appropriate pre-hospital care and timely transfer of patients to hospitals, Pir-Hossein Kolivand, head of Emergency Medical Services Organization has stated.

The average time for emergency ambulances to reach the accident scene in metropolitan areas is up to 15 minutes due to traffic congestion, he told IRNA on Tuesday.

“We took several measures to reduce traffic accidents or fatalities using the country's emergency facility,” he highlighted, adding, first of which was equipping the air medical fleet that with 37 helicopters within 3 years.

In the Iranian calendar year 1395 (March 2016-March 2017), there were only 7 helicopters in the medical services fleet, which increased to 44 by now, he explained.

“Over the past 3 years, we could save some 27,000 individuals injured in traffic-related accidents delivering them to hospitals immediately,” he also highlighted, adding, it played a significant role in reducing the road crashes fatalities.

He went on to note that currently there are 3,300 emergency medical centers which have been 2,000 three years ago.

Comparing the number of ambulances operating in the system now with those in past 3 years, he stated: “We have added some 3,000 ambulances to the emergency fleet, after renovating the old ones and purchasing new ones, the number increased to 5,500 which were 2,500 three years ago.”

The other important measure taken was adding water ambulances to the emergency medical fleet in provinces neighboring the Persian Gulf, southern coast of the country, he said.

“We have also signed a memorandum of understanding with Germany to share their flood and earthquake experiences and in turn use our experiences in traffic accidents,” he concluded.

FB/MG