The President of NAPE is calling on the health minister to tell the public what recommendations Eastern Health made to address what the health authority calls a “dangerously understaffed” ambulance service in Metro.

The numbers outlined in an Eastern Health briefing note are shocking according to NAPE: 2000 Red Alerts in the metro region in the last 12 months — 470 of which were cases in which ambulances were not available and calls were pending.

A Red Alert is a period of time in which an ambulance is not available for a call.

NAPE President Jerry Earle says the Pomax Report, completed in 2015, made recommendations to address the situation in a three-phased approach which he says was ignored by the incoming administration.

Call volumes have increased steadily since that time according to Eastern Health.

Earle wonders what information was redacted from the briefing note and he wants to know what Eastern Health recommended to address the problem.

Meanwhile, the NDP’s Jim Dinn says he’s appalled by revelations in an Eastern Health briefing note obtained through access to information by the CBC.

Dinn is the incumbent candidate in St. John’s Centre.

Eastern Health described the ambulance service in the metro region as “dangerously understaffed.”

Dinn says none of the revelations in the briefing note should be news to government.

He says the same problems were flagged in a 2015 report while paramedics and their union have repeatedly called for action on the issue.

Dinn says particularly troubling is the fact that it took an Access to Information request for the numbers to be made public.

He wonders “what other bad news is government keeping secret?”