World Cup: Toronto Paramedics Face New Challenges

0:00Toronto paramedics are sounding the alarm ahead of the World Cup matches here, from June 12th to July 2nd. FIFA is demanding around 50 of their medics stand by on the field at BMO Field, just for player injuries, pulling them away from regular city. Emergencies. With 230,000 extra visitors flooding in daily, emergency calls are set to spike hard. Earlier this week, paramedic chief Bikram Chala brought this up at a city council subcommittee meeting, only two weeks before kickoff. He explained, it's a fresher quest from FIFA, meaning they'll need extra staff every matchday to cover both the pitch and the 45,000 fans. In the stands, this setup is hitting different from other big events like Blue Jays games, where private teams handle athletes. Toronto's paramedics have battle chronic shortages for years, with unions reporting thousands of times ambulances couldn't roll out for 9-1-1. Calls. The city just rolled out a $52 million three-year plan to hire three under one new medics by 2028.

1:02To bridge the gap, Chala pitched an integrated response pulling in paramedics from Peel, York, and Durham regions. That'll cost $800,000 from the World Cup budget, which already has a $5 million whole after free fan-fest admission. The subcommittee greenlit it Tuesday, so now the focus shifts to making sure the whole region's covered without leaving Toronto streets exposed during. The tournament rush. Canada news today, powered by AI bringing you what matters. I'm Cory with the story.