FG Establishes Free National Emergency Medical Services, Ambulances

Yemi Akinsuyi/

As part of efforts towards the achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire said Federal Government would establish a functional and responsive National Emergency Medical Service and Ambulance System across the country to ensure that emergencies were properly taken care off.

Ehanire, who spoke in Abuja at the ongoing conference of Medical Women’s International Association, (MWIA) on Thursday, disclosed that the service would be free of charge for Nigerians.

This year’s conference is the 9th in its series, and the theme is: Accelerating Universal Health Coverage: Priorities, Opportunities and Challenges.

Ehanire said: “This service will be at no cost to the end users. Additionally, we are working toward revamping tertiary healthcare services across the country, including active partnership with private sector for the attainment of quality health care.”

Speaking on the COVID-19 pandemic, the Minister said it had changed the world, destroyed the economies of strong nations, and also challenged their health systems.

Ehanire said the response to the pandemic had also determined the political trajectory of many nations, as nation are engaging strategically to ensure that they overcome the pandemic.

He noted that Nigeria, through the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, had taken bold steps to curtail the spread of the virus, with the creation of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 to respond to the threat.

He said the government had also signed the Coronavirus Disease Health Protection 2021 Regulations to enforce public health measures and non-pharmaceutical protocols, and to support other ongoing technical measures to put COVID 19 under control.

According to him, the Federal Ministry of Health had also taken several strategic steps with the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), who has statutory role to provide leadership in our public health response at the forefront, to curtail the COVID-19.

He said the COVID 19 infections had remained under control within the borders, adding that, with the technical supports from World Health Organisation (WHO) advisory, NCDC and the Non-pharmaceutical protocol, transmission of the virus had continue to slowed down.

Continuing, Ehanire said: “Nigeria has been a subscriber to COVAX facility which aimed to provide vaccines to cover for 20 per cent of the populations. Nigeria had also registered with African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) of the African Union, to access vaccines to cover another 50 per cent of the population. The country supported the whole-of-Africa and ECOWAS to overcome the virus.

“No one is safe till we are all safe. It is in an effort to ensure universal coverage for vaccines that we have convened a COVID 19 vaccine conference to mobilize experts, role players, development partners and other stakeholders to create a unified and strategic national front for the provision of vaccines.

“Similarly, on Feb. 15, I inaugurated a National COVID-19 Vaccine Coordinating Committee to Coordinate access, acquisition and distribution of vaccines and advise on the immunization strategy.

“We have created a system that allows all stakeholders to participate in the vaccine response without creating multiple channels or compromising the integrity of the system.

“Nigeria has received its first batch of the AstraZeneca Vaccines, the vaccines roll out has commenced with prioritization of the COVID-19 vaccination in the country in 4 phases with COVID-19 healthcare frontline workers and other frontline health care workers,” he said.

In her remarks, Rivers State coordinator Gestational Diabetes Mellitus, GDM Research Group, Prof Rosemary Ogu, called on pregnant women all around the country to ensure they attend a regular screening for Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) while doing their antenatal.

Ogu, who is also a member of the World Diabetes Foundation, added that the screening was necessary in order not to infect the unborn child with the disease, and for the baby to be alive.

She said the GDM session was a review of the Rivers state world diabetes foundation, gestational diabetes mellitus group, aimed at eradicating the effect of the disease on the general population.

“Gestational Diabetes Mellitus study group, it is a research outfit in Rivers State Nigeria where we are concern about the effect of diabetes in pregnancy, which is called GDM.

“Because of the effect of diabetes on the general population, how it affect pregnant women and affect the unborn baby or may even kill the baby or affect the woman in the future, there is need to educate people.

“There is need to screen the pregnant women, to find out those who are at risk of the disease. Those who may have diabetes in future and those whose babies may die because of diabetes, so that they can be prevented.

“This disease is preventable base on life style modification, based on physical activities, based on drug insulin, oral hyperglycemia agent and anti-diabetes drugs, they are all available,” she said.

She said the Rivers State GDM study group of the MWIA was able to carry out this project over a three-year period in 42 communities in the state to find out the effect of the disease.

Ogu also noted that the aim of the research was to prevent the adverse effect, the bad outcome associated with diabetes during pregnancy.

She stated that, with the observant of health guidelines, Universal Health Coverage was possible in Nigeria, and called on all Nigerians to always adhere to health guidelines.

She added, “If all Nigerians will adhere to health guidelines, we will be doing a great work of reducing the effect of the bad medical outcome on people, and also have a country of healthy people.”

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