Stakeholders call for special hospitals

Stakeholders on disaster management have called of the federal government to as a matter of urgency, build special hospitals for the handling of emergency cases such as accident cases on major high ways.

This was as a result of continued rejection of accident victims by Nigerian hospitals, on the basis of “no police report, no treatment” a situation which resulted to loss of many lives across the nation.

Vice chairman, Anambra state, Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) chapter, Peter Kachi, advocated this, during a meeting of south- east disaster management stakeholders convened by the south east zonal coordinator of NEMA, Martin Ejike Udeinya in Enugu.

He advised that the Nigeria’s disaster coordinating body,  the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA  should facilitate the construction of such medical facilities especially along major high ways.

He regretted that a lot of innocent Nigerian that were involved in motor accidents have over the years died due to the refusal of both government and private hospitals to attend to them because of the said unfriendly policy that police report should be provided.

Addressing the stakeholders, the south east NEMA boss, explained that  the 2016 strategic planning meeting was aimed at bringing together all the key relevant agencies, so as to draw a road map on the way forward for the year.

He however emphasised the need for synergy and collaboration between NEMA and other stakeholders in the disaster management business in the zone,

Udeinya, identified lack of capacity building among the stakeholders as a major issue.

He however, stated that his office will liaise with the agency’s headquarters in Abuja, to workout possible modalities on how to build the capacity of the relevant stakeholders within its areas of jurisdiction in the zone.     

According to him, the present NEMA leadership under Alhaji Mohammad Sani Sidi, takes issue of capacity building, training and re-training very seriously.

Udeinya, added that disaster handlers at various levels, stakeholders must be abreast with the 21st century international best practices, which is mitigation based. Other stakeholders that attended  the meeting, included men of the Federal Road Safety Corpse, FRSC, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corpse, NSCDC, Fire service, state Emergency Management Agencies, SEMA, Red Cross Society, among others.

The stakeholders while appreciating the meeting as a forum for brain storming, they also complained about lack of operational vehicles for effective response in their respective states.

Regis Anukwuoji