Qatar doctors to use quad bikes to help with medical emergencies

Manama: Qatar's paramedics will avail of desert-tested motorbikes to provide faster medical assistance and possibly save lives in difficult terrains during the winter camping season.

Powered by 680cc engines, the four-wheel drive bikes, donated by Health Care Incorporation to Emergency Medical Services (EMS) at Hamad Medical Corporation, have a safety kit for the driver and can carry first aid and other medical equipment.

Qataris, like most Gulf nationals, spend weeks camping in the vast desert during the cool winter days.

But, with children and teenagers actively involved in car and motorcycle sports, the authorities have often to deal with an alarming increase in accidents.

The EMS provides road and air ambulatory services, but the addition of a motorbike section will help its staff in reaching accident victims in the shortest possible time and assess the severity of the accident before an ambulance can arrive to the spot.