Province confirms northern Alberta municipality complied with injunction in EMS dispute

Alberta Health Services (AHS) has confirmed that the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo has complied with an interiminjunction granted by the Court of Queen's Bench that would have stoppedthe community from withdrawing from the provincial ambulance dispatch service.

The community was against the provincial health service handling dispatch.

The municipality, which includes Fort McMurray, had stopped transferring calls at noon Thursday after its council decided the new service is putting patients at risk due to delays and confusion.

The lawyer representing the municipality, Chris Davis, said it was in the public interest for the municipality to keep handling emergency medical calls through its own dispatch centre, which already handles fire calls.

Davis said the municipalitydecided to stop transferring 911 calls after noticing delays in the provincial system that "jeopardized" patient service.

Lawyers for AHS called the community's refusal to allow the takeover unlawful.