A 120 ambulance rescues a woman last March. [File photo]

Thirty percent of emergency ambulance call-outs are unnecessary, said Beijing's 120 Emergency Medical Center.

"This month, for the ambulance I'm assigned to, 30 to 40 runs were from timewasters out of 140 in total," a doctor surnamed Zhao from 120 told qianlong.com.

Zhao said one man who called for emergency help claimed he had chest pain, but when the ambulance arrived, he said he was hungry and asked the crew to go out and buy him two steamed buns.

"There were drunks asking for a ride home, and a man who said he was dizzy actually wanted us to settle a fight with his wife. So we don't waste limited emergency resources, we really hope that we can get some legislation established," said Zhao.

Li Jianren, publicity director of the center, told the Global Times that they usually have 100 ambulances on duty out of a fleet of 400. In one day, he said they respond to an average of 800 calls, an increase on last summer. "We receive a lot of calls about people who had fainted by the roadside, but actually they were just sleeping in the shade," Li said.

"If there were fewer calls reporting these non-medical emergencies, we'd have more time for those really in need.

Unfortunately, there's no law to prohibit these pranks," he added.

Even if some calls sound suspicious, they still need to attend, said Li, as they couldn't chance it not being real.

According to a Chinareviewnews.com report in June, over 15 percent of those who call the 120 emergency hotline in Beijing fail to get an ambulance because of the shortage of qualified medical personnel, due largely to the poor pay.

Another factor is abuse of ambulance services, as well as the poor efficiency of the two existing hotlines, which sometimes results in both 999 and 120 ambulances turning up to the same incident.

Kong Defeng, a lawyer with Beijing Quanda Law firm, doesn't think Beijing needs a new law to legislate against improper ambulance call-out.

"To rise it up to an administrative penalty or even criminal charges is another waste of resources, after all, 120 is a hotline open to the public for aid," Kong said.

He added that 120 is free to sue ambulance timewasters in civil court if they wish.

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