FCTA Begins Emergency Medical Service To Reduce Casualties During Accidents

The Federal Capital Territory Administration is deploying 66 health personnel to test run the emergency medical and ambulance services aimed at reducing casualties during accidents.

The programme would be implemented by the National Emergency Medical Service and Ambulance System, under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Health.

The initiative which is aimed at reducing death rate and accident casualties is expected to be implemented in all Nigerian states.

But the FCT has been selected as a pilot state to test run the new programme, the Secretary for the Health and Human Services Secretariat, Dr Abubakar Tafida, said in a memo dated March 14.

Nigeria recorded 106,256 road traffic crashes between January 2019 and December 2021, according to the Federal Road Safety Corps.

A total of 14,773 people died in the 31,116 crashes recorded within the period, while 91,483 people sustained various degrees of injury.

Tafida explained that in the National Health Act 2014, the Federal Government approved that five per cent of the basic healthcare provision fund would be used for emergency medical and ambulance services.

He said, “I’m happy to say that the Federal Capital Territory Executive Committee has approved the immediate implementation of the pilot scheme in the FCT as well as granting us the permission to engage a total of 66 personnel for this pilot programme.

“Essentially, we are talking of a situation where if there is any injury or any ill health that is capable of risking the life of an individual or posing a permanent disability to the health of that individual, he or she is meant to be given prompt care at the point of the incident and then prompt transportation in an ambulance system to an emergency treatment centre in designated hospitals.

“Treatment would be provided until such a person is stabilized for further treatment in that same hospital or transferred to a higher hospital where better care appropriate for that injury or ill health is provided.

“During the first 48 hours of an emergency, not a single dime would be asked from this particular individual.

“So, essentially, it’s a big plus for the health sector where a lot of delays would be narrowed and where lives would be saved and disabilities are reduced maximally or even avoided.”