NEMA trains staff on Air Ambulance operations

The three day programme tagged Systems Training for Aeromedical Retrieval Teams (START) which began on February 11 according to the agency was designed to establish a level of professionalism for the safe and efficient transfer of patients from one hospital to another using aeromedical transportation.At a demonstration of the operations at the Trauma Center of […]

The three day programme tagged Systems Training for Aeromedical Retrieval Teams (START) which began on February 11 according to the agency was designed to establish a level of professionalism for the safe and efficient transfer of patients from one hospital to another using aeromedical transportation.
At a demonstration of the operations at the Trauma Center of the National Hospital, Abuja, Deputy Director, Search and Rescue of the agency, Ibrahim Mamman, said the introduction of the air ambulance was to enable the transportation of patients with emergency cases and in line with global best practices regarding emergencies.
He said the introduction of the Air Ambulance will mark a turning point in  emergency management sector, adding that the government is planning to expand the project further by providing more of the Air Ambulances to other parts of the country.
Mamman who is also the agency’s head of Special Air Operations Unit said the air ambulance will be used to transport patients with critical and traumatic health situation from one location to another from any place in the country to another one in another part.
Speaking to journalists, Programme Director Aeromedevac Consulting Services, Keith Trower, said the training will help NEMA trainees to  overcome physical, physiological and phsychological stress associated with the aeromedical practice.
He said it will also equip them with the knowledge of how the medical environment operates in order to take the necessary precaution while facilitating safe patients transfers.
He informed that the NEMA staff will be trained for nine months.
Chief Medical Director of the National Hospital, Jaf Momoh, said the hospitals Trauma Center where the demonstration took place  was designed to effectively attend to complex medical emergencies including air evacuation related to emergencies which led to the provision of the Helipad for landing and takeoff of air ambulances.
He emphasized that the National Hospital had at many times in the past received patients that require its services by the usual ambulances but he said the air ambulance will provide a better alternative in the near future.