Medically equipped emergency ambulance units at "Hôpital Civil de Charleroi". Four years' activity.

In narrow collaboration with the so-called "900 Service", the civil Hospital of Charleroi provides, since 1971, medical attendance for two emergency medical aid flying squads. Five hospital doctors belonging to this "900 Service" alternately assume, night and day, such responsibilities. Their background is reanimation anesthesia. Medical attendance is assumed on the ground of gravity criterions which are appreciated by a switchboard operator working at the Telephone calls' Centre. The number of such emergency medical attendances is gradually increasing: 377 in 1974, 489 in 1975, 973 in 1976, 1661 in 1977, 2135 in 1978. The proportion of "flying" attendances assumed for sheer medical affections is also gradually increasing in regard to those assumed for traumatological causes. The daily average of such "flying interventions" reaches 5.8 with a daily peak record of 15, which unquestionably shows that such an organised medical service is definitely positive. One should concede that a better selection among such emergency telephone calls could make the good results now recorded even better. The way to improve this selection could be achieved if the operator were a physician as this is the case in France with the S.A.M.U. services. In theory, such an improvement could be reached through a Regional Centre for Emergency Medical Aid, such a Centre being activated by both local medical and hospital forces interdependent in the pursuit of the same goal i.e. "Cases of Emergency".