Introduction
It is reasonable to say that all efforts should be made to decrease the time factor in the emergency alarm chain from calling to taking the call,to dispatching,to getting ready to leave,to driving to the injured people or people involved in the accident,to taking care of the injured or suppressing the fire, and to getting the injured to the hospital. How ever,should all efforts be made solely to decrease the time factor? Such efforts are costly,and there are other health matters that investments could be done in:better ambulances with more technical equipment,more training of the staff, better hospitals,provision of self-help equipment,and so forth. An economical way of dealing with this problem of the
public sector is to perform cost-benefit analyses. The cost side of such an analysis is quite unproblematic. It consists of costs for new equipment,staff education,and so forth. The benefit side,how ever, is more problematic. For example,if the emergency sector in tends to invest in a new alarm technology that could save 1 minute in response time for all responses,how much will such an investment lead to in benefits measured in economic welfare terms? Not only must the effect of a changed response time, measured in fewer fatalities,injuries,and illness,be found, but this change should also be measured in monetary units.