This year it will be five years since we celebrate the Day of Emergency Medical Services Worker. This holiday became official in 2020 at the suggestion of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, when against the background of the pandemic ambulance workers became an example of selfless loyalty to professional duty and mercy, showed heroism and courage, showed that the ambulance service is not just a service, but a big family united by a common goal.

The work of ambulance workers is an invaluable contribution to the health of the nation, worthy of respect and recognition, incredible responsibility and dedication. Ambulance service always works without breaks and weekends. And today, on their professional holiday, thousands of ambulance crews are on call, saving lives.

During the Great Patriotic War, the work of the ambulance service was reorganized, but “ambulance” did not stop saving people's health. With the beginning of the war, many employees, including doctors and nurses, went to the front, and the main burden fell on women's shoulders and age staff, on people who did not stop providing medical care, went on foot to the calls, together with the residents worked on the rear works. Timely assistance rendered to victims of enemy air raids and accidents saved the lives of many citizens and avoided more casualties. On the eve of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War we once again remember those who selflessly worked, saved patients, without sparing their health and strength.

Today, during a special military operation, ambulance crews are back on the front line. In border regions, in the territories adjacent to the line of contact, after shelling and terrorist attacks, sometimes risking their lives, they provide assistance to the civilian population, evacuate wounded soldiers.

Within the framework of the new national projects, special attention is being paid to improving emergency medical care. In the Russian Federation, 132 stations and more than 1,700 emergency medical aid units provide emergency medical assistance.

In 2024, more than 38 million visits to patients will be made by ambulance crews in the Russian Federation. Within the framework of the national project “Health Care”, more than 14 thousand air ambulance sorties were performed in 2024, which made it possible to evacuate almost 19 thousand critically ill patients in 70 constituent entities of the Russian Federation to provide them with emergency medical care, including almost 3.5 thousand children. This is the best indicator for all the years of the federal project implementation.

In accordance with the instruction of the President of the Russian Federation, the work on the development of emergency medical care service will continue within the framework of the new national project “Long and Active Life”.

Today I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all employees of the service - doctors, paramedics, nurses and orderlies, drivers, dispatchers - for your noble and conscientious work, for your great responsibility and dedication in the fight for life and health of people.

And special words of gratitude - to the veterans of the ambulance service, whose valuable experience is still in demand today! I wish you all professional success, inexhaustible energy, well-being of your loved ones and, of course, good health!