Red Cross saves 239 lives in Kano last year—Official

No fewer than 239 lives were saved last year from various traumatic emergency situations in 39 local government areas of Kano state by the Red Cross Society of Nigeria. The Kano state branch Executive Secretary of the Society, Alhaji Musa D. Abdullahi, who disclosed this in an interview with Chronicle, said majority of the cases […]

No fewer than 239 lives were saved last year from various traumatic emergency situations in 39 local government areas of Kano state by the Red Cross Society of Nigeria.

The Kano state branch Executive Secretary of the Society, Alhaji Musa D. Abdullahi, who disclosed this in an interview with Chronicle, said majority of the cases recorded were from road traffic crashes across the area councils.

He said 25 of the victims were rushed to various hospitals by volunteers after receiving the first aid treatment due to the nature of their conditions.

He said the volunteers worked along with relevant stakeholder agencies, including the Federal Road Safety Corps, the Fire Service and the Police to mitigate risk factors during emergency incidences on the highways and the communities.

“Last year, the incidents responded to by our volunteers in the 39 LGAs were 239; that is the people our volunteers were able to save their lives. Those that were referred to various hospitals after giving the first aid were 25” he said.

He identified logistics as their major concern and appealed to the government and other spirited individuals to assist the organization so as to be able to acquire more ambulances for wider coverage.

He said at the moment Kano Red Cross has only one functional ambulance.

He further appealed to the public to key into the blood donation initiative of the organisation to contribute in saving lives of the needy.

“We don’t encourage buying and selling of blood, we encourage people to volunteer and donate that will help when there is need for blood transfusion. People should please volunteer even if it is once in a year to save other people’s lives” he pleaded.