Tokyo is seeing ambulance dispatches increasing at a pace faster than last year, when the annual total hit a record high, officials of the Tokyo Fire Department said Saturday.
As of last Sunday, the number of ambulance dispatches in the capital since the beginning of the year added up to 417,001, up by over 20,100 from the same period last year, according to preliminary data released by the department. If the number continues to increase at this pace, this year’s total may exceed the record high of 872,075 logged last year.
The data also showed that it took nine minutes and 25 seconds on average for an ambulance to arrive at the scene after receiving a call for service in January-May this year. Although the number of ambulance workers has increased, the time has not been shortened significantly from last year’s average of nine minutes and 43 seconds.
