The Australian Medical Association has lashed the WA government for its failure to plan and invest in the health system and its capacity after an extraordinary emergency alert was issue by St John’s WA on Monday warning on delays in calling 000.

As the number of active COVID-19 cases in WA soared past 12,000 on Tuesday, hospitalisations were relatively minor, while ambulance ramping and delays to triple-0 responses are caused by just a slight increase in pressure on emergency departments, with a functioning health system incumbent on “more hospital beds and staff”.

“This is a real concern for every West Australian because if you have a car accident, if you have  an unexpected, severe, and urgent medical incident at home, minutes can mean the different between living and dying and that is what our ambulance service is here for, to come and pick us up and get us as quickly as possible to a hospital,” AMA president Dr Omar Khorshid told Liam Bartlett on 6PR Mornings.

“And here we are in one of the wealthiest states in the world at the moment, given our economic success, and yet we can’t even provide that basic expectation that when you call an ambulance, when you’re in a medical emergency, that one will actually turn up.”

Press PLAY below to hear how the situation in WA got to this point