Delta Government Set To Reactivate Emergency Ambulance Service
Five (5) hospitals under the Hospitals Management Board have been selected for the first phase of the re-activated State Emergency Ambulance Service as base-hospitals where patients would be evacuated to in times of emergencies in Delta State.
The State Commissioner for Health Dr. Mordi Ononye made this known during the launch of the re-activated State Emergency Ambulance Service at the premises of the State Drug Revolving Fund, Asaba.
Dr. Ononye listed the participating hospitals to include Central hospitals Warri, Ughelli, Sapele, Agbor, and General Hospital Okwe.
He said that after a painstaking evaluation of the hitherto ambulance service in the State, it became necessary to reposition their services to involve the hospitals more, in order to expand access to the service.
The Commissioner disclosed that the call centre will be responsible for dispatching the nearest ambulance to the distress site following a call from members of the public via the emergency numbers 08005000100 and 08031230021 and thus the emergency ambulance service will be hospital based but coordinated centrally by a call centre in the Ministry of Health.
He reiterated the need for all health workers to acquire necessary skills on basic life support even as his Ministry has trained the personnel penciled to be part of the ambulance service on how to resuscitate and stabilize patients.
Dr. Ononye used the medium to admonish the hospitals’ management to ensure continuous functionality of the ambulances which according to him are fully equipped to offer the pre-hospital care and transport patients to hospitals without unnecessary delay.
He said that his Ministry will not tolerate the use of the ambulances outside the purpose for which they were initially deployed and called on the general public to avail themselves of the lifesaving scheme which is bound to impact positively on the overall morbidity and mortality indices of the State.
Dr Ononye stated that due to the importance Senator Okowa’s Administration places on the health sector as encapsulated in the SMART Agenda, three more ambulances will be added to the existing fleet in a couple of weeks’ time.
Speaking earlier, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Health, Dr. (Mrs.) Minnie Oseji expressed joy on the launching of the re-activated emergency ambulance service by the Ministry.
She disclosed that the service will ensure that pregnant women who experience obstetric emergencies would be speedily conveyed to where they can be managed effectively and that evacuation of accident victims will also be quicker to centres where they can be treated promptly and hence reducing deaths and averting unnecessary disabilities from road traffic accidents.
According to her, with the right facilities including the just reactivated ambulance services and perseverance from health practitioners we can practice the medicine and health sciences of our dreams.