JETHRO IBILEKE
Thousands of victims of road accidents die annually in Nigeria, not particularly because of the adverse effect of the mishaps but because help failed to reach them in time. Also, thousands who die as a result of stroke and other health-related cases could have been saved if only first aid treatment had been administered on them by qualified emergency health workers and prompt transportation to nearest medical facilities. That accounts for the sharp difference in the number of deaths recorded in road accidents and other health causes between Nigeria and developed countries of the world.

In such countries, fully equipped ambulances manned by paramedics, well-trained in emergency medicine and trauma, are available to everyone and are accessible on toll-free phone services. They respond promptly to calls for assistance in emergency cases.

Here in Nigeria, we are yet to get there. But there is good news. The University of Benin Teaching Hospital, UBTH, which has recorded several breakthroughs in the field of medicine, has again pioneered a course in that direction. Since 2008, when the health institution established the School of Paramedic Study, under its Institute of Health Technology, about 40 students have been trained as paramedics in a three-year course, with the first set graduating in 2011. It was gathered that many of those trained are currently working with the health institution.

To further increase the level of those trained and archive international best practice, UBTH, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and Fountains of Living Water, a United States of America-based non-governmental organisation, set up a training programme for paramedics, surgeons, doctors, and nurses of the hospital in emergency medicine, paramedic medicine, neonatal medicine and plastic surgery.

Dr. Pius Erhiwogbe, Director of Paramedic Training and head, Accident and Emergency, UBTH, explained to the magazine factors responsible for the high rate of preventable deaths in emergency cases and benefits of the collaboration with Fountains of Living Water: “The paramedics respond to all medical emergencies. In summary, the paramedics are doctors at scene, they represent the doctor in your house, away from the hospitals, even though they can work in hospitals, they can work in companies, they can work above the ship, they can work on airlines, they can in fire service, they can work with the police. So the police are supposed to employ some paramedics. That is what you call practical emergency service.”

According to him, if a man has a stroke in the U.S., somebody will phone the paramedics and they paramedics will come in and do something immediately, which translates to instant care for the patients even before the patient gets to the hospital.

He further disclosed that recovery from stroke is highly dependent on how early help gets to the patient, but added that in Nigeria, sufferers might have to wait till the son to comes from Lagos to come and carry his father to the hospital, when it is already very late.

The magazine was reliably informed that the gap between the evacuation of accident and trauma victims and management of their treatment is what the UBTH has developed by training paramedics, with a view to putting a system in place such that should a patient suddenly slump at home, the friends should be able to phone somewhere and an ambulance would come and carry him to the hospital. This is far better than the current situation in Nigeria when something like that happens: it is the relations that will go and look for a vehicle to convey the patient to the hospital.

Leader of the team from Fountains of Living Water, Dr. Celeste Nieves, an expert in emergency medical care, critical care and trauma from New Jessy, U.S., said their purpose of coming was to help bridge the gap with respect to the paramedic programme, adding that an excellent curriculum programme has already been outlined for the trainees by the Federal Ministry of Health, which, she said, was compable to what obtains in the United States. “Here, we have a group of brilliant student-paramedics with brilliant mind who have the heart and are ready for change. All they needed was the resources.”

She confirmed that the ministry has promised to help fund the paramedic programme and that UBTH would be upgraded to new standard of care, not only in paramedic system, but in critical care, anesthesia, pediatric emergency medicine and adult emergency medicine, which she said would be replicated throughout the country.

“It’s going to create a ripple effect. Again, the University of Benin is going to be brought to a new standard for all other institutions to see and also rise to,” she disclosed.

The Director of Emergency Services in the ministry, Dr. Joseph Amidu, who was at the UBTH to monitor the training, disclosed that the federal government was already doing a lot to ensure that paramedic activities are improved on by way of putting in place policies and regulations that will regulate paramedic activities.

According to him, “What the government has done is to make sure that there is a provision for trainees in paramedics to be absorbed into the core civil service system by liaising with the establishment unit of the office of the Head of service of the federation and the federal civil service commission to ensure there is placement for them in the civil service cadre which is already ongoing.”

Dr. Amidu also disclosed that the federal government is already working on a national policy on emergency ambulance system which will absolve most of these trained staff.

Till date, UBTH remains the only institution running a programme on paramedic medicine practice.