JERUSALEM, July 19 (Xinhua) -- Israel has recently started to use ambulance buses (AmbuBuses) to evacuate COVID-19 patients, which increases the emergency service's capacity as each AmbuBus can carry up to 13 patients.
The first operational trip of AmbuBus was sent by Israel's national emergency service Magen David Adom (MDA) on July 3, evacuating nine residents who were diagnosed with the coronavirus from a nursing home in southern Israel.
Uri Shacham, paramedic and director of the Red Cross department at MDA, said these unique vehicles are designed especially to treat patients from nursing homes.
"AmbuBuses are capable of transporting two critically ill patients with sophisticated equipment," Shacham told Xinhua.
MDA, which runs Israeli national dispatch center for medical rescue, is now facing additional missions amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
"MDA's teams spend days and nights in developing means for saving lives and providing medical response efficiently and quickly," said Eli Bin, director-general of MDA.
The new AmbuBuses are equipped with cameras inside, through which senior paramedics in MDA can see the patients and instruct the medical workers in the buses.
They also have advanced life support equipment, as well as defibrillators, automated chest compression devices and refrigerators used to store blood and medication.
It is worth noting that AmbuBuses possess special power outlets that allow additional medical equipment to be connected, such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation to sustain life and incubators.
The intensive care bus also has a particular oxygen exchange system that can replace all the air in the vehicle in just seven minutes.
"This special bus was designed with the assistance of the Israeli army for the response to the coronavirus. Nevertheless, we can still use it for other conditions," said Shacham. Enditem
