As the coronavirus threat cranks up, the Jalisco Health Department (SSJ) has the use of an ambulance that has been specially equipped to respond to chemical, biological and radiological emergencies.
After assessing a person’s symptoms, medical personnel answering calls on the state’s coronavirus hotline (333-823-3220) will determine whether the ambulance needs to be dispatched to transfer the patient to hospital. The ambulance is reserved solely for use by people with severe Covid-19 symptoms.
The ambulance has been adapted at a cost of three million pesos and is staffed by a paramedic, doctor and driver, all of whom are provided with protective gear to avoid contagion.
In the first week of the hotline’s operation, the ambulance was dispatched on only one occasion – on March 17, when a patient with a high fever and breathing difficulties was transferred to the Hospital Civil Nuevo.
Various requests for the ambulance, including one from Puerto Vallarta, were rejected, said Yannick Nordín, coordinator of the Servicio de Atención Médica de Urgencias (SAMU), because the symptoms of the patients did not fall inside World Health organization criteria.
Useful Covid-19 information links
https://www.jalisco.gob.mx/es/gobierno/comunicados/coronavirus
https://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?lang=es