The ambulance got into an emergency – Newspaper Kommersant No. 190 (7391) dated 10/13/2022

The traffic police drew attention to the problem of providing medical care to victims of accidents. Bad weather, poor road conditions, remoteness of the accident site from the nearest medical facility – these factors sometimes do not allow an ambulance to quickly arrive at the scene of the accident, which is why the wounded die. In some regions, they give an example in the State traffic inspectorate, there have been cases when victims of accidents wait for an ambulance for three to five hours. It is necessary to teach citizens to provide first aid on their own, they say in this regard in the Ministry of Health.

Lenar Gabdurakhmanov, deputy head of the traffic police of Russia, spoke about the situation with the provision of first aid in case of an accident on Wednesday, speaking at a round table devoted to the “coherence of actions” of the authorities to reduce accidents. He recalled the rule of the “golden hour”: within 60 minutes it is necessary to provide first aid to a person with severe injuries. This will most likely save his life. Mr. Gabdurakhmanov said that in the Russian Federation, in 99% of cases, ambulance crews meet this deadline for arriving at the scene of an accident, but there are still cases of exceeding the standard. So, in 2021, according to him, 687 accidents with 171 deaths were recorded when doctors drove for more than an hour, in 2022 – 293 accidents with 73 deaths.

The analysis conducted by the traffic police showed that most often the time of arrival of doctors is affected by bad weather, poor road conditions, and the remoteness of the accident site from the nearest medical facility.

Lenar Gabdurakhmanov cited the Kolyma federal highway in Yakutia as an example: there is a 484-kilometer section of the road without settlements and hospitals. On July 12, an accident happened at the mentioned section, the ambulance had to travel 254 km to the scene, the journey took five hours. Similar problems with accessibility were also identified in the Vologda, Tver regions, Altai and Krasnoyarsk regions. Another problem, the representative of the traffic police continued, is the lack of communication along the roads, as a result, people cannot get through to the 112 service. The traffic police called on the Ministry of Digital Development to more actively solve this problem.

The state traffic inspectorate, according to Mr. Gabdurakhmanov, had previously proposed creating a network of emergency medical aid points along federal roads, but this did not find support everywhere. Similar centers now exist in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Nizhny Novgorod Region and a number of other regions. In addition, the deputy head of the State traffic inspectorate said that at the beginning of 2021, the traffic police and the Ministry of Health agreed to send recommendations to the subjects of the federation on building the “logistics” of first aid. However, there are still cases when teams are sent to the scene of an accident not from the nearest hospitals, but taking into account the division of areas of responsibility of medical institutions and the boundaries of controlled territories. Lenar Gabdurakhmanov again gave an example from Yakutia, where on the Vilyui highway an ambulance traveled more than 200 km to an accident, although the nearest point of assistance was 100 km from the accident.

Responding to the criticism of the State traffic inspectorate, Leonid Dezhurny, chief freelance first aid specialist of the Ministry of Health, noted that, according to Russian and foreign studies, up to 25% of people who died before the arrival of the brigade could have been saved if only first aid had been provided to them. This, he clarified, can be done by eyewitnesses of the accident or passers-by, if they have the appropriate skills.

However, said Mr. Duty, citizens often refuse to even touch the victims, fearing to cause even more damage to their health and then incur criminal penalties.

In reality, there are no risks, this needs to be explained to the population, the representative of the Ministry of Health urged.

In July of this year, said Leonid Dezhurny, it was decided to train ambulance dispatchers not only to receive calls, but also to advise citizens or inspectors via video link (using smartphones): in a number of regions there are already examples of saving people using this technology. When this practice will be introduced throughout Russia, the representative of the Ministry of Health did not specify. “The question arises how this will be organized,” Mr. Dezhurny reasoned. “After all, for example, traffic police officers have tablets with cameras, but they work through special communications channels. How to connect them with doctors?

It is necessary to use air ambulance more actively to rescue victims of road accidents, Irina Isaeva, deputy head of the center for crisis situations of the Federal Center for Disaster Medicine of the Ministry of Health, added: it is necessary to introduce round-the-clock readiness for pilots, reduce the time for preparing for a flight, etc. “Currently, aviation is not used enough”, she said.

Ivan Buranov