In Gyeongbuk, 119 Ambulance Sirens Sounded Every 2 Minutes and 30 Seconds

Gyeongbuk Fire Department, 200,000 119 Dispatches Last Year

Eliminating Emergency Medical Blind Spots to Rural Fishing and Farming Areas

High-Quality Service for Cardiac Arrest and Severe Emergency Patients

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Koo Dae-sun] How often does 119 respond in the Gyeongbuk region?

Last year, it was reported that the 119 ambulance teams in Gyeongsangbuk-do responded a total of about 200,000 times. This means the siren sounded once every 2 to 3 minutes.

The Gyeongbuk Fire Headquarters announced on the 8th that an analysis of 119 ambulance activities last year showed 208,270 dispatches and 114,633 transported patients, averaging one dispatch every 2.5 minutes.

Looking at the types of patient incidents, patients with diseases such as hypertension and diabetes were the most common at 77,019 (67.2%), followed by accident injuries such as falls at 22,418 (19.6%), and traffic accidents at 12,118 (10.6%).

By age group, those aged 80 and above numbered 27,338, those in their 60s were 20,634, and those in their 70s were 20,622, accounting for 59.8% of all patients being elderly.

Regarding the number of transported patients by time, the busiest period was from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. with 27,746 patients (24.2%), and by quarter, the third quarter had the highest number at 32,210 patients (28.1%).

The Gyeongbuk Fire Headquarters hired 35 specialized paramedics, including first-class emergency medical technicians and nurses, last year and deployed ambulances to rural fishing villages, which are emergency medical blind spots, to increase the survival rate of cardiac arrest patients and reduce preventable mortality. As a result, high-quality ambulance services were provided to 18,233 severe emergency patients.

Additionally, by expanding the special ambulance teams capable of administering various emergency treatments such as medication to patients, the recovery rate of cardiac arrest patients who regained their pulse through rapid professional cardiopulmonary resuscitation increased to 9.6% (201 out of 2,086 patients recovered).

Lee Young-pal, head of the Gyeongbuk Fire Headquarters, said, “Gyeongbuk faces difficult conditions such as a high aging index and a shortage of medical institutions, making it a vulnerable area for emergency medical care. We will do our best to protect the lives of 2.6 million residents by expanding ambulance deployment in medical blind spots and strengthening the professional emergency treatment capabilities of paramedics.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.