Kazakhstan introduces real-time ambulance tracking
Kazakhstan has updated its emergency medical care rules, introducing a new system that will allow patients to track an ambulance’s location and follow its journey to the scene in real time, Qazinform News Agency reports.
Under the new rules, patients will receive an automatic notification once an ambulance crew has been assigned to their call. They will then be able to track the ambulance’s location and movement in real time through integrated geolocation services.
Mobile primary healthcare teams responding to urgent calls will also have their vehicles equipped with GPS tracking and video surveillance systems, allowing their location to be monitored in real time.
The updated rules also set specific response times based on the urgency of each call. Ambulance crews must arrive within 10 minutes for Category 1 calls, 15 minutes for Category 2 calls, and 30 minutes for Category 3 calls. For urgent conditions that do not pose an immediate threat to life, the response time is up to 60 minutes.
Category 1 covers life-threatening emergencies, including loss of consciousness, respiratory or cardiac arrest, shock, seizures, and injuries involving bleeding. Urgent calls, meanwhile, include acute illnesses or flare-ups of chronic conditions that do not pose an immediate threat to a patient’s life or health.
The new rules also extend the operating hours of mobile primary healthcare teams handling urgent calls by one hour. On weekdays, they will now operate from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm, compared with the previous schedule of 8:00 am to 7:00 pm.
Calls for referral to primary healthcare teams will continue to be registered from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm on weekdays and from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm on Saturdays. Calls received outside primary healthcare operating hours will be handled by ambulance crews.
Earlier, it was reported that Kazakhstan and South Korea had agreed to cooperate on the localization and joint production of pharmaceuticals in Kazakhstan.
