The federal government plans to extend the National Emergency Medical Services and Ambulance System to include Kaduna State’s Ministry of Health, aiming to bring doorstep ambulance services to rural communities.
This was announced by the National Programme Manager of the emergency system, Dr. Saidu Ahmed, during a stakeholder workshop in Kaduna focused on implementing Rural Ambulance and Transportation Services.
Dr Ahmed, also Senior Medical Adviser to the Minister of Health, outlined the system’s goal of ensuring emergency medical support by allowing residents to call a toll-free number, 112, to dispatch an ambulance to the site of the emergency and transport patients to the nearest healthcare facility.
Highlighting the public-private partnership nature of the system, Dr Ahmed urged private ambulance operators to register with the government to aid in providing emergency services.
He emphasised that the initiative would not only improve healthcare access but also stimulate economic growth and job creation.
Kaduna’s Commissioner of Health, Hajiya Umma Ahmad, represented by Permanent Secretary Dr. Aisha Sadiq, reaffirmed the state’s commitment to enhancing capacity building and compensation structures within public-private partnerships in healthcare.
