Paramedics are taking more sick days and ambulance calls have increased dramatically in the last five years in Winnipeg.

Figures from the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service show paramedics responded to more than 89,000 calls in 2019 up 32 per cent from 2015.

And paramedics took almost 94-hundred sick days in 2019, an increase of 13 per cent from 2016.

Deputy chief Christian Schmidt says the service needs six more ambulances but that could cost up to $20 million.