COUNTRY Victoria will get an extra 234 paramedics over the next year after the state government outbid the Opposition with a $56 million regional ambulance package.
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Almost 300 additional regional paramedics will be employed under the government's four-year plan, which will also be financed by $100 million in savings from a reduction in the overtime worked by paramedics.
The package comes after a spate of deaths and lengthy delays waiting for ambulances in country Victoria, including a Kyneton women who waited 90 minutes for an ambulance that was a kilometre away.
The state government and Opposition are trading blows over who has the best ambulance policy ahead of November's state election, after the Opposition announced its $151 million four-year policy on Monday, funding more than 300 new paramedics.
Despite Health Minister Daniel Andrews saying the government's ambulance plan was about ''patients, not politics'', Premier John Brumby said the policy was miles ahead of the Opposition's.
''If you think of our policy, over the next 12 months, there will be five new paramedics every week across rural and regional Victoria,'' he said.
''If you look at the Opposition's policy, it's one per week over the next four years.''
The 234 regional paramedics to be employed this financial year will be in addition to replacements for 47 paramedics Ambulance Victoria is predicting it will lose in regional Victoria to natural attrition.
The government plan also includes:
■ 40 regional ambulance scholarships that include a three-year commitment to work in country Victoria.
■ 10 new MICA (mobile intensive care ambulance) single-responder units or vehicles based in areas such as Bairnsdale, Echuca, Shepparton and Wonthaggi.
■ 32 non-emergency patient transfer staff to reduce the number of transfers of patients between hospitals carried out by paramedics.
The Opposition has also promised 10 new MICA units for regional Victoria.
Mr Andrews said there were about 500 paramedic students in the university system, enough to meet the government's commitments.
Asked about the delays in regional ambulance response times, Mr Andrews said the system wasn't perfect and there was always room for improvement.
But Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu accused the government of reacting to its policy lead on a range of issues, including extra police, an independent corruption commission and now ambulance officers.
''John Brumby has been out of touch on these issues, he has ignored these issues, he has denied there's a problem,'' he said.
The Opposition ambulance pledge includes 210 extra paramedics for regional Victoria, as well as 100 for Melbourne and 30 patient transport officers.
The Ambulance Employees Union's Steve McGhie welcomed the government's pledge for additional ambulance officers and MICA units, to help fix a system that is in long-term crisis.
''It's not going to fix all of the problems but it will go a long way to providing better services in regional Victoria,'' he said.
The government is yet to release its policy for the metropolitan service.
