Bucharest ambulances annually cover a distance equivalent to 16 times the distance between the Earth and Moon

Alis Grasu, the manager of the Bucharest-Ilfov Ambulance Services, recently noted that ambulances in the region cover 6 million kilometers annually, equivalent to 16 times the distance from Earth to the Moon.

Only 9% of the ambulances in use are newer than 7 years old, even though the service handles about 20% of the total number of requests at the national level.

"The ambulance fleet currently numbers 293 ambulances. This represents 11% of the Ambulance Services' fleet nationally. The Bucharest-Ilfov Ambulance Service, the only regional Ambulance Service, responds to about 20% of the calls recorded every day at the national level,” Alis Grasu told G4Media.

“Only 27 ambulances are newer than 7 years. The rest have been in use between 7 and 17 years. The newest ones were purchased by the Capital City Hall 7 years ago, but these have entered their eighth year of use, very good vehicles that saved us during the pandemic. Without these 106 emergency vehicles, Bucharest would have had major problems during the pandemic," the doctor added.

The older the ambulances get, the higher the costs of their maintenance.

“Let's not forget that these vehicles contain medical equipment that must be kept functional because this is what saving a life depends on, and therefore they must be constantly checked, repaired, and kept in very good condition so that emergency medical assistance can be provided under the best conditions," she noted.

(Photo source: Cateyeperspective | Dreamstime.com)