Hong Kong’s Fire Services Department readies 2,000 additional officers to handle possible 6th Covid-19 wave, in bid to ease strain on paramedics
- Director of Fire Services Andy Yeung says about 1,800 firefighters are now qualified to drive ambulances, to help free up paramedics to concentrate on other work
- Department has mapped out contingency plans and formulated a multi-tier response system in case of a sudden surge of infections
Hong Kong’s Fire Services Department will mobilise 2,000 additional officers to handle a possible sixth wave of Covid-19 infections in a bid to ease the manpower strain faced by its paramedics during an outbreak earlier this year.
Director of Fire Services Andy Yeung Yan-kin said his 10,000-strong force, including some 6,000 firefighters and 3,000 paramedics, had faced unprecedented challenges when Hong Kong was hit by a fifth Covid-19 wave earlier this year, with the caseload reaching 58,757 on a single day.
After the department reviewed its operations and resources, it mapped out contingency plans and formulated a multi-tier response system in the event of a sudden surge in infections, Yeung said.
About 1,800 firefighters have been trained and are now qualified to drive ambulances, to free up paramedics to concentrate on other work. Close to 200 non-operational paramedic staff, such as instructors, will also be requested to help out on the front line.
“[We will] mobilise ambulance officers on administrative duties, such as the staff at the Fire and Ambulance Services Academy and at the Ambulance Command Headquarters providing logistics support to the front line to man ambulances,” Yeung said.
“We will also mobilise our firefighters from the fire stream to the ambulance stream to carry out ambulance driver duties.”
With infections skyrocketing in February, many patients with no symptoms or those who tested positive with rapid antigen kits called the ambulance services to head to the already overstretched accident and emergency (A&E) wards at public hospitals.
Yeung said the department, which operated about 450 ambulances across the city, received as many as 2,700 emergency calls a day, with half of them Covid-related. Officers also received 4,000 calls each day on average from the hotline they set up in March to assist Covid-19 patients quarantined at community isolation facilities. At one stage, officers sent 1,700 patients to isolation centres, the largest in a single day.
