page_title: Emergency medical services
section_title: Transport-only
hierarchical_section_title: Emergency medical services / Strategies for delivering care / Transport-only
caption_attribution_description: English: An eRanger Ambulance in Southern Sudan
context_page_description: Emergency medical services, also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. They may also be known as a first aid squad, FAST squad, emergency squad, ambulance squad, ambulance corps, life squad or by other initialisms such as EMAS or EMARS.
  In most places, the EMS can be summoned by members of the public via an emergency telephone number which puts them in contact with a control facility, which will then dispatch a suitable resource for the situation. Ambulances are the primary vehicles for delivering EMS, though some also use cars, motorcycles, aircraft, or boats. EMS agencies may also operate a non-emergency patient transport service, and some have rescue squads to provide technical rescue services.
  As a first resort, the EMS provide treatment on the scene to those in need of urgent medical care. If it is deemed necessary, they are tasked with transferring the patient to the next point of care. This is most likely an emergency department of a hospital.
context_section_description: The most basic emergency medical services are provided as a transport operation only, simply to take patients from their location to the nearest medical treatment. This was historically the case in all countries. It remains the case in much of the developing world, where operators as diverse as taxi drivers and undertakers may transport people to hospital.
caption: A motorcycle ambulance in South Sudan.
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