Small advances

Magen David Adom launches speedy mini-ambulances

Electric cars will help volunteer paramedics circumvent traffic, access narrow streets and maneuver through audiences at events

Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter

Mini-ambulances launched by the Magen David Adom emergency and rescue service to speed up response times in crowded or hard-to-reach locations, October 9, 2017. (Yehezkel Itkin via MDA)
Mini-ambulances launched by the Magen David Adom emergency and rescue service to speed up response times in crowded or hard-to-reach locations, October 9, 2017. (Yehezkel Itkin via MDA)

The Magen David Adom emergency and rescue service on Monday launched a fleet of mini-ambulances to speed up response times to accidents and disasters that are difficult to reach.

The electric vehicles, equipped with first aid kits and sirens, will be allocated to volunteers who have been trained as paramedics and will be used chiefly in cities such as Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Acre, which have many narrow streets and alleyways.

The cars will join hundreds of MDA motorcycles that are already on the roads to  navigate around traffic jams and weave through audiences at large public events, where full-size ambulances are less maneuverable.

MDA director general Eli Bin said, “The dozens of electric vehicles acquired after a long and comprehensive inspection process will shorten the response times of MDA, will save lives and will constitute another important layer in innovation.”

Bin added that the mini-ambulances “will serve to secure large public events where a large vehicle cannot move without endangering the audience.”

Most Popular
read more: