F.G To Commence Emergency Ambulance Services On Friday

The Federal Government will on Friday commence the pilot phase of the emergency ambulance services in Abuja.

This is in a bid to facilitate access to first aid and healthcare in life-threatening situations.

Dr Felix Ogedegbe, the Chairman, National Emergency Medical Treatment Committee (NEMTC), made this known on Wednesday in Abuja during a Bi-Weekly Ministerial Media Conference anchored by the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire.

Ogedegbe said that several trials had been carried out in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as the pilot state and that a call to 112 goes straight to the emergency communication centre which then goes to the medical dispatch system to get the ambulance to respond to the emergency.

“This is going to happen in the FCT and certain private and public hospitals working together in unison were picked as emergency treatment centres and certain private and public emergency ambulance service providers have also been picked.

“There are key issues here. People who are at the risk of death or disability do not have to pay at the point of need.

“They have to have the ability to call on the ambulance and be attended to and we hope and pray that all of the lessons that we will learn from the pilot phase will be used to then rollout this scheme in the rest of the country”, he added.