In furtherance of the 2016 strategic goals of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) as related to stakeholders’ collaboration, the Corps Marshal of the FRSC, Boboye Oyeyemi has sought the support of health development partners’ group for enhanced rescue services by the FRSC.
According to Bisi Kazeem, Head Media Relations and Strategy, FRSC in a press release, the Corps Marshal in a presentation made before members of the group, the Corps Marshal enumerated the roles which the FRSC plays in preventing crashes as well as attending to post crash victims in the country, in the event of a crash. This he said, makes it imperative that the Corps establishes Ambulance points and Roadside clinics.
According to the Corps Marshal, while the FRSC organises daily patrol operations and engages in public enlightenment programmes to educate drivers and members of the public on proper use of the roads, it also enforces traffic laws to sanctions the violators. He added that the FRSC rescue teams promptly attend to crash victims through administration of first aid before being conveyed to either the FRSC Roadside Clinics or hospital for more specialised treatment.
In rendering these humanitarian services, the Corps Marshal noted that the FRSC’s medical facilities are always overstretched, as the rate of crashes and demands for medical consumables continue to be on the increase. He further stated that in playing its social corporate responsibility role, the FRSC facilities are used by the host communities to access their medical needs, including malaria, pregnancy and birth related cases, saying these require collaboration and support from government as well as development partners to make the services more efficient.
“We have 35 Ambulance Points and 26 Roadside Clinics spread across the country to cater for the needs of crash victims. But the host communities rely on these facilities for their health needs and we have to oblige them in the spirit of corporate social responsibilities which serve as added burden to us,” the Corps Marshal stated.
“With the increasing demands for the medical consumables by crash victims and added burdens of catering for the needs of the host communities who rely on us for their medical needs, FRSC requires more support from both government and the health development partners group,” he further stated.
Speaking on the Corps Marshal’s presentation, the World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in Nigeria, Dr Rui Gama Vaz expressed satisfaction with the presentation and what the FRSC is doing in its provision of healthcare, not only for crash victims but the host communities. He commended the FRSC for its efforts to make the roads safer and assured that as part of the partnership engagement, the partners will readily support the Corps in the area of data harmonisation and capacity development of the staff.
The WHO representative also assured that the development partners would study the demands made by the Corps Marshal to see areas that they could intervene, saying what the FRSC is doing is in line with the health agenda of the development partners group. Dr Rui Gama Vaz gave added that as part of the efforts to get all partners together, he would take the case to the Federal Ministry of Health to see how the collaboration with the FRSC health facilities could be supported by the various governments for more efficient health service delivery to the people.
Among the partners who attended the meeting were the United States Agency For International Development (USA); Department For International Development (DFID); Clinton Health Initiative; United Nations Children’s Emergency Funds (UNICEF). Others were World Health Organisation (WHO: Aids Foundation; Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA); European Union (EU) and United Nations Population Funds (UNPF).
