(Montreal) Due to a lack of funding from the provincial government, four ambulances serving the Montérégie will have to cease their activities, which represents 14 full-time positions. The Cooperative of Ambulance Technicians of Montérégie (CETAM) denounces this measure which will reduce ambulance coverage on the territory.
Ambulances in Vaudreuil-Dorion, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Châteauguay and Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville will cease their activity on the 1er april. These cuts total 16,000 hours of service per year.
In a press release, the CETAM indicates that “the needs are greater than ever, that the teams are mobilized to their full capacity and that they are struggling to meet the very high demand”.
CETAM had requested in 2019 up to seven additional ambulances to adequately serve the territory. Two years later, the CISSSs of Montérégie-Centre and Montérégie-Ouest authorized the addition of three ambulances from their budgets.
In 2022, the CISSS de la Montérégie-Centre added one more ambulance, once again from its budget, bringing the number of new vehicles to four. This year, the CISSS indicated that it was no longer able to finance these four ambulances due to a lack of financial capacity.
“We are dismayed to observe such a decline in ambulance coverage in certain areas of Montérégie, following a government decision. The requests from citizens in an emergency situation are increasing, the vehicles are available, the teams are mobilized, so nothing can explain why we want to cut off an existing and equally important service in the cities concerned, ”denounces in a press release the director General of CETAM, Martin Benoit.
He points out that the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, as well as the Minister responsible for Social Services, Lionel Carmant, are both elected officials from Montérégie. Mr. Benoit hopes that they will be sensitive to the situation and that they will hear the cry from the heart launched by CETAM.