The Commissioner of Emergency Medical Services Dr. John Baptist Waniaye has revealed that he is facing gross resistance from politicians in his quest to sanitize ambulance services in the country.
Waniaye said this yesterday as he met a team of researchers who have conducted studies on road traffic injuries in the country and partly blame the poor ambulance system for thousands of deaths reported annually arising from road crashes.
According to the report by the Uganda Police, a total of 3,880 people perished in road accidents last year. But researchers say that some of these could have been saved if they had proper ambulance systems to evacuate them early on for necessary emergency care.
In the absence of such, some ended up having aggravated injuries as they are mostly transported on police pick-ups or Good Samaritan drivers on the road.
Dr. John Baptist on Ambulances;…
As a temporary measure, Waniaye says the Ministry of Health early this year allocated some ten ambulances to Uganda Red Cross to offer help to accident victims on some highways that are hot spots for accidents. But these are not sufficient and the Police are still seen dropping victims at health facilities Dr. Waineya said. ENDS.
