The Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Health, in conjunction with the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) has flagged off the International Training of Trainers in Basic Emergency Care Services.
This was contained in a statement signed by the Deputy Director, Media & Public Relations, Mr A.A. Chindaya on Monday, May 16, 2022.
According to the statement, the National Programme Manager of the National Emergency Medical Services and Ambulance System (NEMSAS), Dr. Saidu Ahmed Dumbulwa, while addressing participants disclosed that the flag-off marked a very important day in the history of the Ministry’s strong desire to promote Emergency Medical Services in Nigeria.
This, he added was in collaboration and support of ICRC, which was in line with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recognition as a tier of healthcare system.
Dr. Saidu commended the management of ICRC for packaging the Training of Trainers of the Basic Emergency Care Services (BECS), which is the first of its kind in sub-Sahara Africa to give credence to effective medical emergency response.
Continuing, he said “As part of Mr. President Health Sector Agenda, we currently have the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF), with three gateways, the NPHCDA, NHIS and EMT. 5% of the 1% CRF is allocated to the EMT gateway. The EMT gateway he further revealed owns a programme called National Emergency Medical Services and Ambulance System, NEMSAS”.
The National Programme Manager, NEMSAS, noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of our health system in Nigeria and globally especially in the areas of medical response, NEMSAS therefore stands a better option for addressing the missing link in the Nigeria Health Sector for effective emergency medical response in the control of outbreak of disease in Nigeria.
Dr. Saidu on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Health thanked the ICRC and those who had expressed their support for the laudable idea of NEMSAS, and still sought more support of stakeholders as “the training will be a game-changer especially as we are preparing to roll out the pilot of the NEMSAS Programme”.
Speaking earlier, the representative of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC). Dr. Mundi informed that ICRC work day in and day out to urgently increase the capacity of healthcare workers for effective basic emergency services to help humanity.
Dr. Mundi disclosed that the organization remained totally committed to supporting Member States to strengthen essential medical emergency services and cherished the collaboration existing between ICRC and Federal Ministry of Health.
