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. However, 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,
however, is more problematic. For example, if the emergency
sector intends 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