Last Friday, MDA’s first of its kind intensive care bus was used in the evacuation of 10 residents from a nursing home in southern Israel who were diagnosed with the coronavirus. All the patients were evacuated by the bus in one trip to the Corona Health Care Geriatric Center located in the center of the country.
The bus, which was introduced about a month and a half ago, allows the evacuation of up to thirteen patients, intended for use following major accidents. The bus also offers intensive care equipment for two patients, with the remaining eleven sitting in the back. Sirens and an advanced communication system installed in the bus enable the crews in different parts of the bus to contact MDA.
Friday’s evacuation to the hospital saved ten ambulances which would have been needed to perform these tasks.
Manufactured by the MAN company, these ambulance-buses are city buses that have been converted to inter-city, with the unusual dimensions of 39.16 ft. long, 8.2 ft. wide and 8.1 ft. high.
Eli Bin, MDA Director General, said in a statement: “As the national EMS organization of the State of Israel, MDA teams spend days and nights in developing means for saving lives and provide medical response efficiently and quickly. We will continue to face every challenge at any time and wherever it is needed.”