Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The Saudi Red Crescent Authority (SRCA) has disclosed that its paramedics suffer severe psychological distress due to daily exposure to human tragedy and pain during field work and rescue missions. They also regularly report acute physical problems such as back pain as a result of the work they carry out, it said.

"These hazards prevent our paramedics from doing their field jobs properly," the authority said in its annual report for the year 2016-2017, published by Al-Watan newspaper.

The authority said these were some of the hurdles it was facing like other government departments but they would not deter its personnel from fulfilling their responsibilities.

"We consider them challenges that we have to face and must carry on with," the report added.

The SRCA has 384 ambulance centers scattered over 13 provinces in the Kingdom.

The report said during the year under review, the authority extended as many as 517,564 ambulance services, including 99,039 attending to cases of injuries.

It said the injuries resulted from 91,245 traffic accidents, 6,990 hit and run cases, 439 gunfire incidents, 251 suicide attempts and 114 drowning cases.

The report said most of the difficulties faced by the paramedics stemmed from the fact that many of them get posted in remote. Due to financial shortcomings, such employees do not get a chance to travel to urban areas to take part in trainings to sharpen their skills.

The authority complained of a lack of sufficient resources to send its staff on long missions to the cities.

"We have no financial provisions for this purpose and our staff are not covered by health insurance so it is difficult for us to attract and maintain qualified personnel," the report said.

In addition, the authority does not have enough resources to develop its communications network, the report said. "The vast geographical area of the Kingdom is another hurdle facing us," it added.

The authority said the present need for ambulance services is far beyond the financial capabilities of the authority.

The difficulty of movement in urban center is another challenge facing the authority.

The report said a lack of sufficient funds is impeding the operation of the authority's air ambulances. "We cannot use the airfields of other parties for take off and landing during rescue missions," the report added.