"unworkable'' new emergency treatment scheme for the East and West Ends, the Opposition says.

Shadow Health Minister Renee Webb labelled the scheme -- which would see trained firefighters responding to 911 calls in the first minutes after an accident at the ends of the Island -- "unfeasible and unworkable''.

She questioned the plan to transport accident victims in fire service vehicles towards the hospital so ambulances could meet them en route and save potentially life-saving minutes.

"If this is soon to be operational then why can't the top civil servant even say which vehicles are going to be used,'' she asked.

EMT scheme `unfeasible' -- PLP "Surely we are not going to see accident victims transported toward the hospital in fire trucks. The government needs to clarify exactly how patients will be carried. This is obviously a quick fix solution dreamed up for the simple purpose of the election.

"It's clear this is just another bribe the UBP are making on the eve of the election,'' she said. "Why hasn't it been done before now?'' Tourism Minister David Dodwell promised in March, 1995 that the West End would soon have its own ambulance.

But until now, ambulances have had to travel all the way from the hospital in Paget -- sometimes resulting in unnecessary fatalities.

The latest call for quicker emergency care at the Island's ends came after the September death of German student Catrin Schaefer, 23, who was said to have waited 30 minutes after a collision on Kindley Field Road, St. David's.

Health and Family Services Minister Wayne Furbert denied the new programme -- which he said would be operational in the latter half of November -- was an election stunt.

Mr. Furbert said the timing was "completely coincidental'' and "about saving lives'' rather than winning votes.

He said it would clearly be quicker for vehicles to drive from the Clearwater and Port Royal Fire Stations to accidents in the east and west, rather than ambulances from Paget.

He said the scheme was not delivered until now because of the need to train firefighters and a shortage in funding.

Health and Social Services Permanent Secretary Donald Scott said more than 30 firefighters had been trained as emergency medical technicians so they could give initial care in the vital few minutes after an accident.

But he could not clarify whether patients would be transported in fire trucks or other fire service vehicles.