Mobile pod trial for emergency medical services to improve ambulance coverage and response times

SCDF’s current target is to respond to 80 per cent of all emergency medical calls within 11 minutes, she noted. 

According to projections, with the pod deployed at Jurong Lake Gardens, this will improve the figures in the area by 1 to 2 percentage points, said LTC Lim. 

The pods were inspired by gym pods and isolated working spaces that became prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic, she added. 

After the trial, SCDF has plans to deploy eight to 10 more pods, said LTC Lim. 

SCDF has 95 operational ambulances as of February this year, up from 50 in 2014. There are currently 23 fire stations, 30 fire posts and eight dynamic deployment bases where ambulances can be deployed from.

SCDF will still prioritise having fixed infrastructure like fire posts or fire stations, but the pod will complement them, said LTC Lim. 

“In places where we may need some time to build up a fire post, then we can have the pod in place first so we can move the ambulance earlier before we actually set up the infrastructure in the future,” she added.