国产热热热精品,亚洲视频久久】日韩,三级婷婷在线久久,99人妻精品视频,精品九热人人肉肉在线,AV东京热一区二区,91po在线视频观看,久久激情宗合,青青草黄色手机视频

Paramedics complain of overwork

Updated: 2011-10-18 07:00

By Andrea Deng(HK Edition)

  Print Mail Large Medium  Small

The city's ambulancemen on Monday demanded that they be allowed to break away from the Fire Services Department (FSD), because their previous demands have not been taken seriously.

The FSD Ambulancemen's Union, representing 95 percent of 2,400 frontline paramedics, said members had been forced to work around manpower shortages during a time when their medical responsibilities had been getting heavier.

The union charged the FSD had not offered solid resolutions to the problems.

The union also charged the FSD had rejected Wat Ki-on, a retired ambulanceman, who was chosen as the union's secretary general, from participating its meeting with the department.

The FSD countered Wat is not an incumbent staff member.

The department said it has "no intention of interfering with the union's independent rights". It also expressed a preference for resuming meetings with the ambulancemen.

The city's demand for ambulance service, along with first-aid service, has been growing fast for the past decade. The number of calls in 2010 was 630,000, which nearly doubled the figure a decade ago, mainly owing to the aging population requiring more urgent medical help, according to Chan Shi-ki, the union's chairman.

In contrast, the number of ambulance staff members has increased only around 20 percent over a decade or so.

Chan estimated that the team will need a few hundred more staff members to assuage the high pressure and tempo of work. He also noted that there will be a surge of staff members retiring in the coming few years, and that the FSD's decision to increase 370 staff members for the entire department may not satisfy the demand.

Currently, the ambulancemen work 12-hour shifts, and barely have time for lunch - because of the nature of their life-saving services.

"We understand that other departments may be short of hands as well, but that cannot justify not addressing our problem. We need to have enough time to eat - not swallow - so that we have enough energy to save people," Chan said.

Tony Leung, spokesman for the FSD, said that the department "will consider all factors, including the need for service and the needs of the staff members, when making arrangements for lunch breaks. Leung also said that there are always crackers and water in the ambulance, in case the paramedics do not have time to eat.

The ambulancemen also bear greater responsibility after earning entitlement to make a wider range of first-aid decisions, including giving intubations, medications for cardiac disease, asthma, allergy, hypoglycemia, and cramps.

"Sometimes we make important decisions like the doctors do," Chan said.

andrea@chinadailyhk.com

China Daily

(HK Edition 10/18/2011 page1)

逊克县| 张家口市| 长寿区| 镇远县| 独山县| 通山县| 南昌县| 四子王旗| 玉环县| 稷山县| 青铜峡市| 广元市| 北安市| 礼泉县| 汝州市| SHOW| 西林县| 阿拉善左旗| 呼伦贝尔市| 临泽县| 上栗县| 祥云县| 大丰市| 理塘县| 壶关县| 韶关市| 灵台县| 句容市| 荔浦县| 木里| 界首市| 弥勒县| 通河县| 辉县市| 葵青区| 乾安县| 余江县| 潮安县| 安塞县| 宽甸| 深泽县|