By Julie Tullberg
The Herald Sun
Copyright 2007 Herald and Weekly Times
MELBOURNE, Australia — A man has died after paramedics from a broken-down ambulance were forced to run almost two blocks to try to revive him in Melbourne’s southeast.
Ambulance Employees Australia (AEU) general secretary Steve McGhie confirmed a 56-year-old man died from a cardiac arrest before paramedics could reach him at his Elwood home last night.
Mr McGhie said an ambulance broke down about two blocks from the house about 6pm (AEST), forcing paramedics to run with life-saving equipment, including a defibrillator.
But the man’s heart had stopped by the time the paramedics arrived.
“The vehicle had 160,000 on its odometer - it should be retired ... even though the Government has assured Victorians that they are safe and secure,” Mr McGhie said.
“The ambulance had power failure and they couldn’t keep it running.
“They grabbed the defibrillators and the oxygen equipment and ran to the house.
“They tried to resuscitate the man at the scene but were unsuccessful.”
The death follows a bitter dispute between the Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS) and its members’ union over “unsafe” vehicles.
Paramedics last week said the MAS threatened them with $6000 fines unless they use the vehicles, which have exceeded their agreed service life of three years or 150,000km.
About 45 Mercedes ambulances had exceeded their agreed lifespan, Mr McGhie said.
Mr McGhie called on Victorian Health Minister Daniel Andrews to get new ambulances on the road, saying it “was a sad state of affairs in Victoria” if paramedics are forced to run to save their patients.
“This is the sixth incident in the last two weeks and the Government has to step in,” he said.
“They’ve got to get more vehicles.”
Tim Pigot, spokesman for Mr Andrews, said it was an operational decision by the MAS of how they managed resources.
“We have more than doubled funding for ambulance services across Victoria since 1999,” Mr Pigot said.
“This has resulted in an extra 738 paramedics and 101 ambulances on Victorian roads.
“Victoria has the safest and best ambulance system in Australia.”
Metropolitan Ambulance Service spokesman James Howe said the service was investigating the incident.