some suggest shining, others to punish

Sirens, hurry and the struggle for life – this is how we imagine the daily routine of ambulance. But reality is not always like that.

« The most memorable case of calling for the bad, temperature, inviting to the central clinic, and the essence that the outpatient clinic was not yet working for about half an hour, and called just to warm up, » said Elena Anna Jaševskaja, a Vilnius Ambulance (GMP) doctor.

The ambulances are also during the congestion to the other end of the city, as the patient does not want to be treated where the doctor offers, and other hospitals prefer. This also leads to conflicts. « He insists, raises his voice, becomes aggressive, threatens complaints, health ministers, knows, does not know – it is unclear, well, and sometimes, without conflict, it is easier to take them than to argue, » says the doctor.

Emergency assistance to a person who has never happened seriously, has naked health system problems – looking at an ambulance as a free taxi because he expects to get to the doctor faster.

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« You have to wait for a cardiologist for, say, for a few months, and it is much easier to say that you have a heart problems, call for an ambulance and get a cardiologist’s consultation, » illustrates Marius Čiurlionis, President of the Baltic Palliative Assistance Association.

« The wish concert, in other words, should really be suspended for no good reason, » says Minister of Health Marija Jakubauskienė.

A serious case or not, first of all, tries to find out the ambulance. One tenth of calls rejects – doctors do not come. « The dispatcher all over Lithuania, GMP, receives about 2.1 thousand calls. The GMP crew is sent – 1.8 thousand times, » – Tom Bagdon, a representative of the Ambulance Service (GMPT).

“People who start working for GMP when they face such situations, the motivation begins to fall.

However, it is not always possible to evaluate the actual condition of the patient through the phone. This is both the medical staff and the emptying of the taxpayers’ pockets. « This additional feature is very receptive to resources, both for human, fuel and cars, » explains Austida Gerliakienė, Head of the Lithuanian Medical Movement.

« The motivation of people who start working with GMP when they encounter such situations start to fall, » Bagdon says another consequence of this situation.

The Minister of Health proposes to educate people to no longer overcome the speed: « Increasing patients’ health literacy and taking responsibility and the perception that GMP is not any external service, it is our own maintained service. »

« Is the state or the SAM (the Ministry of Health, » Kauno diena « ) doing something to illuminate society? » – Rhetorically asks A. Gerliakienė.

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Some states have already chosen a stricter path. In Germany, Scandinavia, Latvia, patients are invited to an unreasonable call. The amount ranges from tens to several hundred euros.

« The patient pays 70 euros for an unjustified summons there and a physician or paramedic who arrives, does not participate, he simply writes in the questionnaire, the invitation was based or unfounded, » says the head of the Lithuanian Medical Movement.

« I do not know if we will achieve the results of the whip. I think we should protect both side and the other from situations as I mentioned, strictly regulating the algorithm, » says M. Čiurlionis.

The Medical Movement says that politicians are not fulfilling their promises to perform an audit. A year and a half ago, the GMPT, which is a loss, complains of workload. « We have a pit now, in a big problem, it is just promising now. We are all the time, meaning we are building a carriage in front of a horse and those reforms, they need to be prepared, » says Gerliakienė.

According to the GMPT, last year the service suffered a couple of millions of euros.