Fire Brigade admits need for improved emergency medical response service

 

The Jamaica Fire Brigade is admitting that there is room for improvement in the country's emergency medical response system.

 

It follows a call from the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) for an urgent overhaul of Negril's emergency services after a deadly crash along Norman Manley Boulevard in Hanover last Tuesday.

 

Three people were killed and two others injured in the two-vehicle collision.

 

JHTA President Christopher Jarrett questioned whether a single functioning ambulance could effectively serve the busy corridor stretching from Sheffield to Green Island.

 

Commission of the Jamaica Fire Brigade Stewart Beckford says the agency has been facing challenges in responding to medical emergencies in Westmoreland, confirming that two ambulances are currently out of commission.

 

"Regrettably, in May of this year the ambulance assigned to the Negril Fire Station was involved in a crash, a crash which has put it out of commission since May. Further to that, following an internal assessment with a view to identifying a replacement ambulance, regrettably we were not able to do so. So the Negril station and the Westmoreland Division on a whole does not have a working ambulance at this time."

 

Commissioner Beckford said the Negril Chamber of Commerce has since committed to repairing the ambulance involved in the crash. But he pointed out that the need to respond to emergency medical services goes beyond Western parishes.

 

"So yes, there is a need for a review to look at what we have now. It's not just the Negril corridor. Yes, we can start with Negril in the West. We can go all the way to north east - the border of St. ann and into St. Mary. The whole issue of emergency medical service and ambulance service has been called into question in terms of the availability of that service along that corridor. We know that what we have now is not sufficient to meet the needs, the demands that currently exist," he admitted.