The Saudi Red Crescent Authority has announced plans to ensure rapid deployment of its first-aid service providers to deal with victims of road accidents within no time. Prince Faisal bin Abdullah, president of the authority, said: “We have set out a 10-year strategic plan after studying best practices in US, Australia, Canada, Britain and India to bring about major improvement in service.”

Riyadh will be divided into five areas — North, East, South, West and Central — with each having a first-aid complex.

Initially, each of these complexes will have five first-aid teams, which could be increased to 40 at a later stage.

As per the new plan, a first-aid team would attend an accident case within 10 minutes after receiving the call, said Rasheed Al-Eid, assistant to the president.

The plan requires development of infrastructure and training of manpower, he said.