Samur is a specialized and highly qualified emergency system of Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. The name stands for S.A.M.U.R. (Servicio de Asistencia Municipal de Urgencia y Rescate). It is composed of a central base (Ronda de las Provincias s/n, en la Casa de Campo de Madrid), 17 operative bases and 190 vehicles (mainly named "Soporte Vital Básico" or S.V.B.-Basic Life Support- and "Soporte Vital Avanzado" or S.V.A. -Advanced Life Support-).

History

The starting point and deployment of the original structure was created by Simón Viñals Pérez in 1989 (former Madrid Health Counselor from 1989 to 2003), under the presidency of Agustín Rodríguez Sahagún

Agustín Rodríguez Sahagún

Agustín Rodríguez Sahagún was a Spanish politician and businessman as well as being a doctor in economics and law who was best known as being the mayor of Madrid from 1989-1991....

. The first director of SAMUR and a key figure in the development was José Luis Gilarranz

José Luis Gilarranz

Dr. José Luis Gilarranz was a key figure in the development ofadvanced medical help systems in emergency field, mainly in urban settings....

. New uniforms were designed and better selection and learning methods introduced. The pilot project started in June 1991 with the help of the former Mayor of Madrid, José María Álvarez del Manzano

José María Álvarez del Manzano

José María Álvarez del Manzano y López del Hierro is a Spanish politician for the People's Party. Although born in Seville he has lived in Madrid since he was 3 years old. He studied at the Colegio Nuestra Señora del Recuerdo. He was the mayor of Madrid from 1991 to 2003...

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Once the success of the pilot was achieved, in December 1992, the service started.

Function

The main objective is to solve efficiently the medical emergencies that could arise in the streets, inside the Madrid metropolitan area. Samur also assumes the leading role in the management of terrorist attacks or catastrophe. Their effort was remarkable in the terrorist events developed in Madrid on 11 March 2004, during the 2004 Madrid train bombings. They were also deployed to the accident involving Spanair Flight 5022

Spanair Flight 5022

Spanair Flight JK 5022, from Barajas Airport in Madrid to Gran Canaria Airport in Gran Canaria, Spain, crashed just after take off from runway 36L of Barajas Airport at 14:24 CEST on 20 August 2008. The aircraft was a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, registration EC-HFP...

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See also

• Emergency Medical Services in Spain
  Emergency medical services in Spain
  Emergency Medical Services in Spain are public services usually provided by regional Governments.-Organization:...
  
  
• SAMU
  Samu
  Samu may refer to:* Samu, nickname for a Homo erectus man found in Vértesszőlős, Hungary* SAMU - Service d'Aide Médicale d'Urgence, an emergency medical service in France.* Servicio de Atencion Medica Urgente, also an emergency medical service...
  
  
• Servicio de Atencion Medica Urgente
• Medico sanitary Regulation of Emergencies