One in four ambulance calls in 2021 Covid-related

The ambulance service responded to 39,000 calls for emergency pre-hospital treatment from the beginning of the year to the end of July, the state health services organisation (Okypy) said on Thursday.

About a quarter of these cases, 9,593, were Covid-related, while the other 29,613 were related to a variety of issues ranging from cardiac arrest and stroke to injuries, childbirth, and cases of overdose or poisoning.

Close collaboration between the ambulance service and hospitals, particularly the Famagusta reference hospital, as well as the 1420 Covid emergency hotline, played a key role in tackling the pandemic, a written announcement said.

Keeping in mind that every second counts in saving human lives, the public must limit their ambulance use to life-threatening cases or ones that need to be dealt with urgently, Okypy said, explaining that the ambulance control centre sorts cases according to their urgency.

Ambulance service head Riana Constantinou said that the role of the ambulance service is to provide emergency care to anyone, anywhere, and under any circumstances.

“For this reason, we urge the public to only call the ambulance service for serious cases and genuine emergencies, and be prepared to give details about the case they are calling for”.

The general emergency numbers are 112 or 22887171.