(Jamaica Gleaner) Three weeks after a probe revealed that most local private hospitals were unregistered, The Sunday Gleaner has learnt that the island’s private ambulance service is operating without oversight, putting members of the public at risk.

Garth Richards, former president of the now dormant Jamaica Association of Emergency Medical Technicians, said that the society faces “a lot of danger” without guaranteed standards for the ambulance service.

For Professor Winston Davidson, head of the School of Public Health and Health Technology at the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech), the current lack of oversight of private ambulances highlights a bigger problem confronting the health sector, which recently came under the microscope after The Sunday Gleaner revealed that of the more than a dozen private hospitals recognised by the Government, only four were legally registered to operate.

However, PAHO noted that countries without EMS legislative frameworks had “well-organised emergency medical service/emergency ambulance service facilities”.

Chairman Dr Hugh Wong told The Sunday Gleaner that while protocols exist for the public service, “oversight is lacking” in the private sector, which means “standard of care provided varies”.

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