Of the 43 new full-time-equivalent staff funded in the Victorian state budget,Mr Merlino confirmed some had started work.

The remainder are expected to start answering emergency calls in January.

“What’s important is,what changes are we putting in place?” Mr Merlino said.

“There is a comprehensive review of ESTA being conducted by the former chief commissioner of police. At the same time,there is significant additional funding to meet increasing demand. And there has been increasing demand.

“I think it’s important the government acts,and that’s exactly what we’ve done.”

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said the state government was failing to properly manage the health system.

“There’s no use putting in more and more and more money and getting worse and worse results,” Mr Guy said on Wednesday.

“If they can’t get the health system right now,they’ll never get it right. Maybe the problem actually is with the government and not the system.”

Pre-pandemic,ESTA was answering about 95 per cent of emergency calls within the target time of five seconds,but this has consistently dropped to below its benchmark. An average of 87.7 per cent of emergency ambulance calls in 2020-21 were answered within five seconds after a spike in demand of almost 15 per cent.

Failing to answer the calls within targets can be deadly.

In April,a32-year-old woman was found dead on her bathroom floor after waiting almost seven hours for an ambulance.

Authorities have also investigated the case of a three-year-old girl who died from a cardiac arrest near Bendigo after her family’s triple zero call was placed on hold for one minute and 41 seconds.

Later,two people suffering cardiac arrest died after their triple zero calls went unanswered for five minutes. Another call in a life-threatening circumstance was unanswered for up to 33 minutes.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories,analysis and insights.Sign up here.