SCDF’s New Ambulance Can Self-Decontaminate & Automatically Load Or Unload Stretchers

By
Ashley Seek
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When there’s trouble do you know who to call?

The police are probably most people’s first reaction, but let’s not forget the Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF).

On-site of the incident, they need to deploy stretchers, help the victims all in a super time-efficient manner.

And it takes a lot of work.

Luckily, SCDFs new ambulance is about to cut down the workload and help their efficiency.

SCDF New Ambulance can Self-decontaminate and Automatically Load Or Unload Stretchers

SCDF’s new seventh-generation ambulance is here and it has a bunch of new functions to help in their duties.

  • self-decontamination
  • automatically loading or unloading stretchers to reduce the risk of accidental drops
  • a modular storage system, allowing equipment to be rearranged or carried around easily
  • 360-degree vehicle camera and parking assistance to aid drivers
  • solar powered charging
  • height limit detector

The ambulance, developed with the Home Team Science and Technology Agency, even looks different.

Instead of the usual red, blue strips cover the vehicle instead.

Around 26 of these new ambulances will launch in August, replacing the fifth-generation ones and eventually the rest.

Lieutenant-Colonel (Lt Col) Janice Oh, senior assistant director at SCDF’s Emergency Medical Services Department, said that the new ambulance has to deal with current and future pre-hospital emergency challenges, including the threat of future pandemics.

How Some Of These New Functions Work

With so many new functions in this ambulance, there’s certainly a lot to unpack.

However, we’ll give you a brief on what some of them do.

The decontamination system has a mist system that sprays vital oxide, a non-toxic and non-corrosive disinfectant, to decontaminate the ambulance in 20 minutes.

All you need to do is press a button and it’ll activate.

Recruits in Tekong must be hoping that this would be installed in their bunks, but I digress.

The automated stretcher system takes about 30 seconds using electronic pulleys. This is actually slower than doing it manually, but SCDF deems it to be safer.

However, personnel must ensure the stretcher wheels are engaged before it is released on the ground.

The new modular storage system features wall-mounted tracks that allow the inside to be reconfigured easily based on operational needs.

They can also be used as removable bags.

Next, there are three solar panels on the ambulance’s roof to charge the batteries to power devices and equipment.

The charging system even prioritises certain equipment onboard the vehicle.

Lastly, the height limit detector can determine gantry heights that are 50m away and give warnings to the driver.

SCDF also intends to install the Operational Medical Networks Informatics Integrator into the ambulances in the second half of the year.

This would link SCDF in the pre-hospital emergency care services.

New Command Vehicles

But what if we told you SCDF isn’t just releasing one new vehicle into their arsenal?

They’re also intending to introduce new command vehicles starting around July this year.

These would be deployed in the area of an incident to act as a mobile control centre.

They’ll come equipped with a whole bunch of high-tech features.

One is a 12m-tall camera mast that has 30 times zoom to observe the site of the incident.

The other is a large screen with 12 video feeds to show visual and map information from different sources.

This means feeds from cameras and even drones can be captured.

Some types of command vehicles can even be expanded in order to fit more people inside, up to 6m long and a capacity of 29 people.

SCDF says all of the upgrades are meant to help for longer deployment, as well as to reduce human fatigue.

The next few months will focus on learning all the new technology, in hopes to put it into application soon.

Featured Image: Facebook (Singapore Civil Defence Force)

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Ashley Seek
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