Following the deployment of Mobile Intensive Care Unit (MICU) to strategic locations for emergency response, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has began the training of 45 members of the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) serving in the agency to join in the emergency response team that operate the ambulances services.
Director-General NEMA Alhaji Muhammad Sani Sidi, while declaring open the training in Abuja said it was aimed at mobilizing the corps members to complement the staff in providing immediate basic life support under emergency situations.
Speaking through Director of Search and Rescue, Air Commodore Charles Otegbade, Sani Sidi said the emergency response capability of the Agency was being repositioned to be more proactive in responding to emergencies. He said participants would receive training on casualty handling, pre-hospital trauma and moving equipment to scene of incidence.
The participants would also be trained on how to administer basic life support, first aid materials, dressing and cold compresses including bandage and bandaging as well as how to remove clothing and head gears of casualties.
The training would also focus on administering first aid in common emergencies such as fractures, bleeding and burns, shocks, Asthma and choking. It will also include head injury and spinal injury as well as cardiac arrest and unconsciousness. The officers will be taught basic component of the mobile intensive care unit ambulance and how it can be operated.
Otegbade urged the participants to translate the experience gained from the training into saving the lives of Nigerians during emergencies.
Head of NEMA’s MICU, retired Naval Commander Bala Alti urged officers to avoid heroic rescue that would endanger their lives but challenged them to exhibit confidence while attending to victims during emergencies.
Last December, NEMA commissioned its first Ambulance Bay along the Airport Road Abuja and presently deploy the high tech ambulances to strategic locations within and around the capital territory. The Agency also operates a 24 hour stand-by emergency response system at both its headquarters and all zonal offices.
