MP Ottley warns ambulance service near breaking point, says last driver plans to resign

GREAT BAY--Member of Parliament Omar Ottley painted a grim picture of the state of St. Maarten’s Ambulance Department during Tuesday’s 2027 budget debate, warning that severe staffing shortages could eventually leave the country without an ambulance available on the road when an emergency occurs.

Ottley raised the issue while questioning a budget allocation of approximately XCG 2.1 million for new vehicles, which he asked if that include new ambulances. While acknowledging the importance of replacing or expanding the ambulance fleet, he questioned how the investment would address what he described as the more immediate problem of having enough personnel available to operate the vehicles.

The MP said the situation has reached the point where, according to information he received directly from Ambulance Department personnel, there had recently been only one driver available. Ottley referenced a recent fatal accident and said the ambulance response took some time because only one driver was available at the time.

He did not suggest that the ambulance response caused the death, but used the incident to illustrate what he described as the growing risks created by limited staffing.

In a related issue, The Peoples' Tribune has learned from a separate source about the lack of ambulance response to a recent medical incident involving a student at school. The Ambulance service is stretched so thin, school management had to seek the assistance of a nearby doctor as the ambulance could not respond in a timely fashion to treat the student.

MP Ottley told Parliament that several ambulance personnel are currently unavailable because of illness and physical complaints, which he linked to the strain and demands being placed on the remaining workforce. "They are being abused," he stressed.

Ottley said he had also spoken directly with an experienced Ambulance Department employee whom he described as one of the persons still holding on because of a love for the job. According to Ottley, that employee informed him that he intends to submit his resignation. For Ottley, that development raises an immediate question about what happens if an already thin workforce loses another experienced employee.

The MP said the problems affecting the department have been developing for an extended period and warned that the situation should not be allowed to continue until the consequences become unavoidable. “This has been going on two years. But keep playing. The people will suffer the day that there’s no ambulance on the road,” Ottley told Parliament.

His comments come against the backdrop of earlier parliamentary concern over longstanding labor and operational issues affecting both the Ambulance and Fire Departments. Parliament previously debated unresolved concerns involving emergency-service personnel, including a prolonged go-slow and questions about staffing and working conditions.