13th February, 2022
Lagos State Government has received the donation of eight new customized state-of-the-art Mobile Intensive Care Unit (MICU) Ambulances and a well-equipped Mobile Clinic Truck from two donor partners.
These vehicles were donated by Global Fund; an international financing and partnership organization and Mobile Telephone Network (MTN) Nigeria.
The MICU ambulances are equipped with built-in emergency equipment and gadget including; the main ambulance stretcher with washable mattresses, stainless steel stretcher support, trauma kit, urinal plastic wedge, silicone resuscitator, immobilizers, ECG, Sp02, NIBP, respiration, pulse oximeter and IV hooks.
While the Mobile Clinic truck is intended for medical outreaches and primary health care service provision in 14 local government areas in Lagos State as part of MTN’s Yello Doctor Project.
Speaking while receiving the donation, Lagos Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi noted that the State government has continued to enjoy support from its development partners, donor agencies, philanthropic organisations and well-meaning individuals.
He commended Global Fund and MTN Nigeria for donations adding that the noble gestures of the two organisations will further help strengthen the State healthcare delivery system and improve emergency and public health response in Lagos State.
“I would like to commend the donors for recognizing the urgent need to support the government and for collaborating with us to strengthen the health care delivery system.
“Indeed, this is a noble gesture that deserves commendation. We have received medical facilities that are going to help us strengthen our emergency medical response and primary health care platform, which operates as a health post”.
Abayomi explained the eight ambulances which will be added to the fleet of ambulances in the Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS) will go a long way in expanding the coverage area of LASAMBUS.
According to him, the health truck will bring primary health care services closer to the doorsteps of citizens and help bridge the access gap in health care services.
“We have been embarking on strengthening our medical emergency unit called the Lagos State Ambulance Service.
“LASAMBUS was extremely busy during COVID; picking up people who are in respiratory distress and bringing them to our care centres where we could resuscitate them with oxygen and keep them alive.
“Our fatalities in Lagos were extremely low compared to the rest of the world. Not that we didn’t have breathless people, we did, but we were able to rescue a lot of them.
“Thanks to these kinds of donations that we’ve received from our partners, friends and philanthropic agencies, we were able not to allow COVID to overwhelm us, in other words, never at any point did we have more sick people than our system could manage.
“All in all, I think the donation of the ambulances to the State ambulance service is in tandem with a detailed road map for revamping LASAMBUS and ramping up our emergency response”, the Commissioner said.
He added that the ultimate goal is to transform LASAMBUS and take it to a global benchmark standard, with more staff, more equipment, more ambulance bases and points with reduced emergency response time as it is the practice in advance climes.
“So that if you are out there and you have an accident or you require an emergency service in any way, we can deploy an ambulance to you in your time of need very quickly and take you to a health facility where you can be resuscitated and receive further management or referred appropriately”, Abayomi noted.