World Bank Financing Uzbekistan’s EMS

The World Bank’s International Development Association http://ida.worldbank.org will be financing a U.S $100 million credit approved April 2018 to help people in Uzbekistan impacted by accidents and medical emergencies.

The existing Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system in Uzbekistan is highly fragmented with little coordination between districts and regions across the country. This is due to the lack of integrated and computerized dispatch services needed to operate and monitor the activities of specialized ambulance teams.

The current fleet of ambulances are unsuitable for providing modern pre-hospital care which has resulted in limits to being able to provide lifesaving care while on the way to the hospital plus there is little room to store emergency equipment.

The Emergency Medical Services project will enable people with trauma, medical, and obstetrical emergencies to receive up-to-date aid. The project http:http://projects.worldbank.org/P159544?lang=en is going to develop integrated dispatch centers utilizing up-to-date computer-aided dispatch and communications system in all 12 regions of Uzbekistan. The system will receive calls, dispatch ambulances, and monitor the distribution and availability of resources.

In addition, the project will provide initial training for more physicians and nurses in emergency medicine. The project will acquire and distribute about 60 modern Advance Life Support ambulances among hospitals across the country, as well as the essential equipment needed to deal with not only trauma and medical emergencies but also obstetrical and neonatal emergencies.

The plans include financing integrated computer-aided dispatch centers in each of the 12 regions as well as in Tashkent which will enable the centers to coordinate functions in case of natural disasters or if there are widespread emergency situations.