Statement by SAMARITAN INTERNATIONAL on emergency medical services in Europe

1. The events of September 11, 2001 in New York, the catastrophic fire in Enschede and the train wreck in Eschede have shown that major disasters always require the use of everyday resources of civil defence and medical services. These include specialized emergency rescue services followed immediately by ambulance services for the sick and injured.  Civil defence and disaster response forces comprising substantial numbers of volunteers and specialized in cases involving large numbers of casualties reach the scenes of such catastrophes somewhat later. This underscores the need for an effective network of emergency rescue, ambulance, civil defence and disaster response services. SAMARITAN INTERNATIONAL therefore calls for a unified aid system prepared to deal effectively with the full range of operations, from everyday emergency rescue to major disasters, a system which must be co-ordinated at the local, regional, national and European level as a part of the overall civil defence and medical services system. Non-governmental organizations are to be included in this process at all levels, in order to provide the volunteers needed for major disasters an attractive and efficient opportunity for involvement.
2. First-aid training for the general public is a basic prerequisite for self-help at the grass-roots level in everyday and in extraordinary medical emergencies. Young people, in particular, can be prepared for volunteer work in an emergency aid system through practical demonstrations and exercises. SAMARITAN INTERNATIONAL therefore calls for the preparation of children, adolescents and young adults through first-aid training at the earliest possible opportunity in kindergartens and schools and for driver’s licence applicants as a mandatory component of a European aid system.
3. Ambulance services are inseparably linked to emergency rescue operations, especially in thinly populated areas or regions in which access is difficult due to geographic characteristics (mountains, islands). Even in densely populated areas, ambulance services are ordinarily the only readily available reserve capacity for emergency rescue operations in response to major disasters. Moreover, strict separation of emergency rescue and ambulance services results in a massive increase in the costs of maintaining readiness for emergency rescue operations. SAMARITAN INTERNATIONAL therefore calls for classification of the rescue service as a unified emergency rescue and ambulance service within the framework of the overall, non-economic function of providing for civil defence and medical care. A one-sided assessment based on competitive criteria will not bring about an increase in efficiency within the system as a whole. Adequate response to the specific characteristics of the geographic infrastructure and health care systems can only be ensured through a regional regulatory authority for the rescue service.
4. Rescue systems of different kinds have emerged in the countries of the European Union. Emphasis should be placed on developing the specific advantages of these systems within the context of their respective health care systems. SAMARITAN INTERNATIONAL calls for a definition and distinction of concepts relating to rescue services at the European level in order to optimize rescue services in Europe on the basis of a European comparison. In the necessary process of improving and expanding rescue services, knowledge and experience in emergency medicine should take precedence over economic considerations.
5. The implementation of existing standards also serves the goal of achieving equality of living conditions in a united Europe. SAMARITAN INTERNATIONAL calls for the concrete implementation of the standard emergency telephone number 112 as well as European standards for rescue service vehicles in all Member States of the European Union.