Nemes János: Healing Budapest - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1993)
If you have an Accident
If yoü have an accident National Ambulance Service The Hungarian ambulance service has a long history. Founded in 1887, the Budapest Voluntary Ambulance Society (Budapesti Önkéntes Mentő-Egyesület- BÖME) merged with the City and County Voluntary Ambulance Society (Városok és Vármegyék Önkéntes Mentőegyesülete - WÖME) in 1948 to form the National Ambulance Service (Országos Mentőszolgálat- OMSZ), a unique institution in Europe for a long time. Far more effective and successful than its more advanced Western European counterparts, in the fifties and sixties it was the first centralized, national ambulance service. This means that every ambulance in the country is equipped with the same instruments and drugs, also the members of the staff get the same training. Discipline is exemplary, almost military. The various headquarters mobilize ambulances in seconds and get instant help from each other if necessary. Twenty-one headquarters, one thousand ambulances are capable of getting trained specialists even to the remotest places within thirty minutes. This admirable concept has been exported to many European countries. Although rival private ambulance services have joined the field, OMSZ still remains the largest. Eighty to ninety ambulances provide emergency services in Budapest daily. Ten are emergency ambulances capable of performing more sophisticated medical tasks, such as resuscitation, artificial respiration, coping with mass accidents. Ambulances in the capital alone are called to about one hundred thousand emergencies yearly. Mercedes minibus ambulances, which are technically well-equipped always have an experienced ambulance doctor on board. A further 24 medical vehicles serve the needs of the capital, carrying either a doctor or an ambulance officer. Although tourists may be surprised at seeing a “museum-piece" Polish Nysa ambulance, the replacement of the old-fashioned Hungarian ambulance park by modern Toyota ambulances is almost complete. But to reassure you, it must be said that even the old ambulances have the equipment and medicine necessary for life saving. 15
