The government can save lives by making ambulance services a centralised statutory body, said Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen.

This system he said is currently being used in Australia, Singapore and the United Kingdom and has been proven to be more effective and efficient than what is currently being practiced in Malaysia.

Currently, he said, ambulance services are not centralised, as they are instead attached to government and private hospitals, adding that the voluntary services are poorly funded.

"Pending such restructuring, I urge the health minister to immediately increase and finance first responder services, such as paramedics who travel on motorbikes and to increase funds to voluntary and NGO services," Wong said in the Parliament lobby today.

Wong made the proposal after retelling incidents where late ambulance services in Subang Jaya had extremely negative effects.

"In the first case, the ambulance was late by 45 minutes, while in the second case 30 minutes late.

"And yesterday a semi-conscious injured 93-year-old woman waited for an hour for the ambulance. None arrived and she was eventually taken to hospital by the police.

"The latest victim is not in a very critical state. The other earlier victims did not survive their respective accidents," he said.

Conveying a message from Subang Jaya assemblyperson Hannah Yeoh, Wong said the township was a well-planned urban area "with good roads and decent infrastructure", but described the tardiness of ambulance services as unacceptable.

However he made it clear that it was not the fault of those manning the ambulances.