Saturday 10 / May / 2025
Muscat: Some pregnant women are calling for an ambulance long before they need to go to hospital, according to emergency responders.
Expats and citizens who are in labour and about to give birth can confidently call on the ambulance service to help get them to hospital in time.
A PACDA official, speaking exclusively to Times of Oman, refuted reports that pregnant women were being refused ambulance support.
Some people have complained on social media that the emergency service would not transport women in labour.
Oman’s Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance (PACDA) has asked the public not to abuse the emergency service but said claims that women in labour were being told not to contact the ambulance service as labour was not an emergency were “incorrect”.
Speaking to Times of Oman, an official from PACDA said, “What has been circulated is incorrect. We have received numerous reports from the operations centre of women in labour that need immediate transport to the hospital.”
According to the official, there have been cases where individuals have taken advantage of the ambulance services. “Some people abuse the system because hospitals will not take in a patient if there are no signs of birth being imminent, meaning if the woman is having contractions, the hospital would ask the patient to return later. Therefore, to get into hospital, some people call the ambulance.”
PACDA responds to every report they receive, the official added. However, to determine the severity of the case, the ambulance team assesses the patient at the location then determines if the case is an emergency or not.
“We do not respond to simple contractions as that is not an emergency, but there are humanitarian cases where a woman might call and complain of pains but is alone and has no one to drive her to the hospital. In those cases, we transport her,” said the official.
“If she has someone who can take her to hospital then she should go with that person, however, if she does not then the ambulance service will come to her aid “ the official added.
“We have had cases where the woman and her husband are on the way to the hospital but are stuck in traffic and so they contact us and inform us that they are having trouble reaching the hospital. In such cases, we would pick up the woman and take her to the hospital,” the official added.
According to the law, PACDA specialises in road accidents only, however, there are 11 cases that have been included for emergency response, such as heart attacks, respiratory problems, electrocution, epilepsy, labour and psychiatric illness.
“Legally, the authority is not accountable even if it does not respond to the eleven exceptions because according to the 2004 royal decree establishing it, the Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance specialises in road accidents. However, from a humanitarian perspective, the ambulance does respond to cases that people at home cannot deal with alone,” the official said.
Omani and expat women who use the ambulance services while in labour will not be charged, according to the official.
“In the eleven exempt cases the patient will not need to pay. Even for road accident cases, the insurance company is responsible for paying and if the individual does not have insurance then the authority will provide him or her with an exemption letter.”
