[Anchor]
Starting next April, newly introduced ambulances must secure about 70 centimeters of clearance at the patient's head. With just half a year left before the revised law takes effect, it has been confirmed through our coverage that the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the competent ministry, has unusually requested the National Assembly to postpone the implementation of the law.
Reporter Bae Seong-jae investigated the reasons behind this in an exclusive report.
[Reporter]
The 119 ambulances currently operated as the primary vehicles by frontline fire stations are modified Staria vans.
This is the inside of an ambulance.
As you can see, there is no space for a person to fit between the partition separating the driver's seat and the patient compartment, and the stretcher.
Consequently, the workspace available for emergency medical technicians is inevitably narrow.
To address this issue, the Emergency Medical Service Act was amended in April of last year. As a result, ambulances registered from April 2 of next year must secure an emergency treatment space of at least 70 centimeters from the partition to the stretcher.
However, the issue arose because the current Staria ambulances cannot meet this standard, and Solati, the only domestic vehicle capable of satisfying the revised specifications, has been confirmed to be discontinued in August of next year.
Although the National Fire Agency even considered an alternative of modifying two types of domestic pickup trucks, voices expressing safety concerns erupted among emergency personnel this time.
Ultimately, at the end of last month, the Ministry of Health and Welfare officially requested the National Assembly to postpone the implementation of the law until 2030. SBS coverage revealed that prior to this, an inter-agency meeting to secure new ambulances was held only once.
[Baek Sun-hee / National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee Member (Rebuilding Korea Party): Attempting to postpone the enforcement of the law first is sluggish administration and a clear avoidance of responsibility by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Effective supply measures must be promptly prepared.]
In response, the Ministry of Health and Welfare stated that it will find all possible ways to replace discontinued vehicles, such as utilizing imported vehicles, during the grace period.
Budget cuts are also projected to be inevitable for the National Fire Agency, which requested an additional 5.8 billion won—an increase of more than 40 million won per vehicle compared to the previous year—to introduce new ambulances next year.
With public health center ambulances across the country also required to replace 73 vehicles by the year after next, concerns are growing over the prolonged operation of aging vehicles.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
(Reported by Shin Dong-hwan and Choi Dae-woong | Video by Kim Yun-sung)
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