Five basic life support ambulances with a team of medical personnel has been approved for use by the Boboye Oyeyemi, corp marshal of the Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC) together with teams of medical personnel of the Corps and 30 active close user group lines to the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 as part of its commitment towards facilitating prompt evacuation of Coronavirus victims from point of identification to isolation centres.
The approval came shortly after the request was presented to Sydney Ibeanusi, country director, United Nations Decade of Action on Road Safety and Traffic Injury Prevention in Nigeria and the coordinator, ambulance and emergency response unit of the PTF on COVID-19 at the National headquarters of the Commission.
Sydney who presented the request on behalf of the PTF noted among others that FRSC has always been at the fore front of national commitment and at this moment of global emergency.
He said, the PTF seeks to further the existing collaboration with the Corps in the area of emergency response services in a bid to enhance established collective efforts geared towards combating the dreaded virus.
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Sydney also stated that the need to activate the ambulance service system has become grossly consequential at this time that records have shown a consistent rise in the number of infected persons in the country which is already less than two dozens away from a thousand cases.
He noted that irrespective of the fact, that other agencies have also donated a number of ambulances for the said programme, the need for more cannot be over emphasised. He assured the Corps that the personnel detailed on this assignment will be fully catered for with adequate personal protective equipments, and accommodation.
In a statement by Bisi Kazeem, Corps Public Education Officer, the detailed FRSC health workers will be first subjected to intense training on personal protection, handline of victims and decontamination of the vehicle among others.
They are to work for two weeks, after which they will be subjected to two weeks isolation by the PTF in designated centres and certified negative before they can be allowed to reunite with their families and report back to duty.
Oyeyemi while reiterating the commitment of the Corps to the fight against COVID-19 in the country said that the FRSC will always be readily available to offer the services of both personnel and its operational tools to support the Presidential Task Force in conquering the dreaded unseen enemy.
