40 patients on one EMS shift

Connect with us Dr Biyamba graduated from medical school in Mongolia and went straight to the ambulance. No transition, no supervised ramp-up - just the dispatch system in Ulaanbaatar and whatever came next. In a single summer shift, he treats 30 to 40 patients. In winter, that volume climbs to 90. Of those, roughly half genuinely require an emergency ambulance. The rest receive assessment, advice, and whatever treatment can be provided at the door. Nine to fifteen patients are transported; the others stay home. This is not a gap in the system. This is the system. In this episode of Before the Hospital, Dr Biyamba describes what it actually takes to run emergency care in Mongolia's capital - the caseload, the equipment, the training he received, and the structural reforms needed for workforce development. His account raises a critical health policy question that applies well beyond Ulaanbaatar: when a health system cannot afford to ease new doctors in gradually, what does that do to clinical confidence, patient safety, and amenable mortality? In this episode: What a 24-hour ambulance shift looks like in Ulaanbaatar across seasons. How the 103 system triages who gets transported and who stays home. What equipment a Mongolian ambulance doctor carries—and what is missing. Why new doctors in Mongolia start on the ambulance rather than a supervised hospital ward. The specific training Dr Biyamba found most valuable, and the operational gaps that remain. The question this episode leaves open: If the ambulance is where new doctors learn under pressure, what does that mean for the patients who are part of that learning - and is there a more sustainable model for low-to-middle-income countries? For video podcasts visit: https://www.youtube.com/@ems-global2048/podcasts Our website: https://emsglobalfoundation.org/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emsglobalfoundation.substack.com