The National Emergency Pre-Hospital Medical Assistance Center owns 366 ambulances, but only five of these, which were bought last year, meet all the requirements. The others are mainly worn-out and 23 ambulances need to be withdrawn from use. The data were furnished to IPN Agency by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection.

According to the national program for developing emergency medical assistance, there should be an ambulance for 10,000 people. Under the international requirements, the ambulances should be renewed once in five year, but this hasn’t been done during the last few years.

The number of available ambulance remains low in 12 districts, where many communities are served by ambulances of the make VAZ – 2131 (NIVA), which were bought in 2005 and were adjusted to the existing standards only partially.

The Ministry said a tender contest was announced last December to buy 60 ambulances. The procurement process goes on. A sum of 40 million lei was allocated from the state budget for purchasing ambulances.