Ekiti govt partners group for effective response to health emergencies

Ekiti State government has signed a partnership pact with Emergency Response Africa (ERA) towards enhancing effective and efficient response to health emergencies across the 16 local government areas of the state.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Oyebanji Filani, who said the partnership with ERA was an opportunity to use additional ambulances, added, “The beauty is that we are now able to leverage on the technology that ERA brings to allow us to be able to rapidly deploy our ambulances to sites that require emergencies and also move people directly to hospitals or facilities where care can be adequately given.”

He said, “The partnership guarantees that our health care workers within EKSAMS are trained so that they will be able to leverage on the technology brought by ERA to be able to deliver care. People can call through ERA so that once they call, we can get the nearest ambulance to pick up the patient or victims to the point of treatment.

“We will ensure that people are aware of this service and also ensure that the government does not fail them when they need to use the services,” the commissioner said.

“This is the second phase of what the governor launched. When the governor launched it, we had ambulances on the roads, but we need to upscale the capacity of the state to be able to deliver the care in line with the objectives of EKSAMS.”

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On her part, the Chief Executive Officer of ERA, Folake Owodunni, while signing the memorandum of understanding with the state government on collaboration to strengthen the response to the emergency in the state, lauded the Ekiti State Ambulance Service inaugurated by Governor Kayode Fayemi in February towards the health and wellbeing of Ekiti people.

According to her, “Today, we are proud to announce a partnership between EKSAMS and ERA. This collaboration will ensure that EKSAMs resources, vehicles and personnel are effectively coordinated using ERA’s proprietary smart dispatching and communications technology platform.

“This will make sure that a patient in need receives immediate stabilization and treatment at the scene of the incident in as little as 10 minutes and rapid transport to an emergency-ready hospital that is prepared to receive and treat.

“The technology platform will leverage GPS location, decision algorithms, and real-time communication to ensure EKSAMS delivers fast, reliable services to the citizens. ERA will also support EKSAMS with staff training and professional development to ensure quality care is delivered.”

Owodunni bemoaned the high rate of preventable deaths in Nigeria through illnesses and accidents owing to the dearth of fast emergency medical care.

She lamented that in case of emergency incidents “Nigerians are left to fend for themselves sometimes taking actions that are not in the best interest of the patient and even at hospitals, patients are refused lifesaving stabilisation measures or told to go to another hospital that has the right facilities for their case.

“Every year, more than 1.2 million Nigerians die from sudden illnesses and accidents. These deaths are preventable with effective emergency response. Unfortunately, Nigeria, like many countries across Africa, does not have a strong emergency medical system.”