2017-01-19Staff Report 2 Omuthiya - The Oshikoto Region’s Health Directorate has received two new fully equipped ambulances. This is in addition to a fleet of four other vehicles that were delivered to the region last year and distributed to the various health centres. The two are to be used by Emergency Medical Rescue Services (EMRS) through the Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund in Omuthiya. They will be manned by paramedics and trauma nurses in an effort to safely move patients quickly from accident scenes to hospital. Handing over the ambulances was the Oshikoto Governor Henock Kankoshi, who said a situation analysis on emergency rescue services, which was conducted throughout the country, revealed there is a critical shortage of ambulances, among them all-terrain vehicles, which in most cases are not equipped with basic life-support equipment and personnel trained in emergency care. He added the study pointed out an element of slow response to emergencies due to a lack of ambulances as well as drivers lacking skills in pre-hospital care. “In Oshikoto Region that will be a thing of the past now because of this handover of the two equipped ambulances. I have also learned that most of the ambulance drivers have been trained and registered as emergency care practitioners. Therefore, I urge the EMRS team to take care of these vehicles and use them for the intended purpose of transporting patients from accident scenes to the hospital emergency unit,” he said. 2017-01-19Staff Report 2
