Playa del Carmen expands free ambulance service with 10 units

Playa del Carmen, Mexico — The municipality of Playa del Carmen has achieved unprecedented coverage in prehospital care by meeting the national standard of having at least four ambulances per 100,000 inhabitants. The city currently operates with 10 medical units owned by the City Council, providing completely free care to the population, according to Darwin Covarrubias, Secretary of Civil Protection, Risk Prevention and Firefighters.

Covarrubias explained that this capacity makes Playa del Carmen the only municipality in the state with that number of its own ambulances, strategically distributed across different points of the territory to reduce response times to medical emergencies. The operation is coordinated between Civil Protection, Public Security and the Ministry of Health.

The official detailed that the care network includes permanent bases in Puerto Aventuras, the Villas del Sol neighborhood — an area identified for its high population density — the Fire Department in the city center, as well as operational points in Public Security and Civil Protection facilities. Additionally, one unit is specifically designated for the tourist zone during peak hours, under an inter-institutional coordination scheme.

One ambulance will be under the direct responsibility of the Ministry of Health, with functions focused on scheduled and emergency transfers, both within the municipality and to other municipalities or even outside the state, which expands the reach of the public healthcare system.

Specialized medical personnel are integrated into the crews for the first time. The secretary explained that the increase in daily services — which can range between 35 and 40 attentions — is not due to an increase in the number of emergencies, but rather to greater territorial coverage and the replacement of private services that previously handled most of the calls. Currently, these services are provided free of charge through the municipal government.

As part of strengthening the system, the hiring of specialized personnel to integrate ambulance crews was authorized. For the first time, the units will have not only paramedics, but also doctors and nursing staff, which will allow providing advanced emergency care during patient transport.

Regarding response times, Covarrubias indicated that, after an adjustment in the operational strategy, the interval between receiving the alert and the arrival of the medical unit is currently between four and seven minutes. This improvement is achieved through the city’s “punteo” system, which allows dispatching the municipal ambulance closest to the incident location from the 911 emergency number.

The scheme also includes immediate replacements when a unit leaves its base to attend an emergency, with the goal of not leaving areas unprotected, particularly in areas like Puerto Aventuras and the tourist corridor. With this strategy, the municipality seeks to guarantee continuous coverage and response capacity throughout the territory.