Bangkok: There are far too few emergency response medical personnel in the public health system to deal efficiently with the increasing number of medical emergencies, the National Institute of Emergency Medicine (NIEM) said in a statement released on, March 14, Thursday.
It said there were about 12 million medical emergencies each year with 30% involving patients who require immediate or urgent treatment. A study in 2007 had found that about 60,000 patients died before reaching hospital, the statement said. It concluded that an effective emergency medical system could reduce that number by 9,000-12,000 deaths. The study concluded the available system could save only around 4,800 of those patients, the NIEM statement said. |
