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THREE ambulances and 260 members from the Malaysian Red Crescent Penang branch, will be placed on 24-hour standby statewide during the Hari Raya period.

Its deputy chairman Lim Kim Chuan said the vehicles and members will be on stand-by starting from today until Sept 13. “Our aim is to provide paramedic services to the injured so as to minimise and prevent further injuries before they are transported to the hospital for further treatment. The ambulances and members will be stationed at our branch offices in Jalan Grove on the island, Jalan St Marks in Butterworth and Permatang Tinggi in Bukit Mertajam,” he said.

Lim was speaking reporters after the launching the 24-hour ambulance service in Jalan Besar, Sungai Bakap near Nibong Tebal on Sunday.

Malaysian Red Crescent Penang Branch has a new ambulance — thanks to the Kuwait Finance House.

The ambulance was among three donated by Kuwait Finance to the society, with the other two going to the MRCS Sabah and Kuala Lumpur branches. A ceremony was held to mark the handover of the ambulance at the Penang MRC headquarters on Grove Road.

Branch chairman Datuk B.J. Yeang said some of their ambulances were quite old.  “Having a new ambulance that is fully equipped with medical equipment will help us tremendously in carrying out our duties,” she said.  The branch now has 10 ambulances, including the new one.

The ceremony coincided with the launch of a two-day ‘Pre-hospital Care’ course for MRCS members.

MALAYSIANS by nature are a helpful lot and they are ever willing to help road accident victims out of their mangled vehicles but unfortunately, they do not have the skills or knowledge to conduct a proper rescue. Penang deputy chief police officer Senior Asst Comm Datuk Abd Rahim Jaafar said such good intentions have resulted in some of the injured passing away at the scene due to the improper way of extricating them. He cited a case in Baling a few years ago when several villagers rushed in to pull victims out of an express bus after it crashed. “They failed to realise that some victims could not be removed and needed to be stabilised first. Although, the villagers meant well, some of the victims they rescued later died,” he said.

SAC Abd Rahim said Malaysians must learn the basic rescue techniques. He said there were now several non-governmental organisations such as the Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS) offering intensive training for free. He added that the police were also working with the MRCS to improve the rescue skills of police personnel.

Earlier, SAC Abd Rahim, together with MRC Penang Branch Chairman Datuk B.J. Yeang, launched the Penang Red Crescent’s 24-hour ambulance service in conjunction with the Chinese New Year celebrations. The service will end on Feb 6. About 220 MRCS members will be on standby statewide over the festive period. The public are advised to call 999 in case of any emergencies and the nearest ambulance would be assigned to respond.

In another development, SAC Abd Rahim said the police had formed special squads to monitor express bus drivers in conjunction with the seasonal Ops Sikap.

On standby: SAC Abd Rahim flagging off the volunteer Red Crescent ambulance services, watched by Yeang (on his right).

Penang State Health, Welfare and Caring Society chairman YB Phee Boon Poh was invited launching the Malaysian Red Crescent (MRC) Society 24-hour ambulance service for the Chinese New Year festive period at the society’s Penang branch operation office in Permatang Tinggi.

Phee said three ambulances would be put on standby between Jan 23 and Jan 31.  Some 300 Red Crescent members are involved during the period and they will be stationed along state roads on the island, north, central and south Seberang Prai.

The ambulances will be equipped with the Hospital Emergency Ambulance Radio Link system to enable members on duty to communicate with hospitals, St John Ambulance, civil defence and other emergency medical services.

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The Penang MRCS branch received an ambulance worth RM150,000 from Renesas Semiconductor (M) Sdn Bhd which was the main sponsor for the society’s Fund Raising Dinner 2008 held at Equatorial Hotel Penang.

The dinner, which were graced by Penang Governor Yang diPertua Negeri Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas and his consort Toh Puan Majimor Shariff, raised over RM100,000 in ticket sales.

MRCS Penang branch chairman Ir. Saw Ewe Yong said the society had provided a 12-hour ambulance service in Bukit Mertajam since February last year and intended to expand it to a 24-hour service and to Penang island in the near future.

TENAGA Nasional Bhd has been told to expedite the repair of street lamps, especially in rural areas in the Bagan constituency to reduce snatch theft cases.  Bagan Dalam assemblyman P.K. Subbaiyah said many residents claimed that TNB and the Seberang Prai Municipal Council were slow to react to their complaints.

“The authorities concerned should take days and not months to process the applications for new streetlights as well as to repair the faulty ones. There are still many poorly-lit areas such as Hujung Batu, Lorong Kubor and Kampung Benggali in my area,” he said after launching Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS) Butterworth’s 24-hour ambulance services for the Chinese New Year festival recently.

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