BUTTERWORTH: Squeezing up to seven trainees into the back of an ambulance along with their instructors is hardly the way to teach them about saving lives.
As such, Penang Civil Defence Force (APM) personnel have come up with a remedy in the form of a life-sized transparent training cabin modelled after the interior of an ambulance.
Called the Transparent Ambulance Trainer (TAT), the structure allows more trainees outside the cabin to watch instructors demonstrate emergency procedures and on the use of equipment.
APM Lt (PA) Syukran Ahmad Amer Shaharuddin said training was previously conducted inside operational ambulances where space was severely limited.
“With the transparent cabin, up to 200 trainees can watch and learn during a training session,” he said at the APM North Seberang Perai headquarters.
Lt Syukran Ahmad said using operational ambulances for training meant the vehicles could not be deployed for emergencies.
“The whole unit is portable and can fit into the back of a car. We are looking at making it even more compact so that it can be transported in a smaller car.”
The TAT was built to the dimensions of a Grade B ambulance interior and could accommodate equipment used by emergency responders including cervical collars, spinal boards, stretchers and automated external defibrillators.
The idea was mooted by district officer Kapt (PA) Salman Rahimi Manaf and developed over three months by a 10-member technical team led by Mejar (PA) Muhammad Zakhir Abd Rahman, Kapt (PA) Fadhil Fahmi Zaini and Lt Syukran Ahmad.
The prototype cost less than RM10,000 to build.
