The Federal Government has commenced nationwide distribution of Advanced Trauma Life Support ambulances and tricycle ambulances to strengthen emergency medical response and extend timely care to rural and hard to reach communities, flagged off at the National Trauma Centre, Riyom, Plateau State.
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Daju Kachollom, said the intervention addresses transportation and last mile access challenges in areas where difficult terrain can delay lifesaving care, stressing that distance should not determine whether a life is saved, particularly in maternal emergencies, road crashes and other trauma cases.
She explained the initiative forms part of a coordinated national emergency medical service anchored on the National Emergency Medical Service and Ambulance System, which in Plateau State will complement the State Ambulance System, the Jos University Teaching Hospital emergency care pathway and the Rural Emergency Service and Maternal Transport initiative.
Kachollom announced that Riyom General Hospital has been approved as an outpost of JUTH following collaboration with the Plateau State Government, urging beneficiaries to ensure proper deployment and maintenance of the emergency assets while calling on the state government to complement the investment through budgetary support.
She also visited the Snakebite Treatment Centre in Zamko, a rural JUTH outpost, announcing a donation of antivenoms and disclosing plans to incorporate snakebite management into NEMSAS and the social health insurance scheme to ease the financial burden on affected families.
Plateau State Deputy Governor Josephine Piyo, representing Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang, commended the Federal Government for the intervention, while the JUTH Chief Medical Director reported that approximately 1,115 patients had been transported in Jos East and over 900 in Riyom under the emergency transport initiative.
By Asiwaju Adekunle Saheed
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