FG urges NCC to fix network Connectivity for Emergency Medical Services By Happiness Etukudo The Nigerian government wants the Nigerian Communications Commission to make sure that the Medical Emergency Call Centres have network connectivity.
The government says that Nigeria has 500 emergency medical ambulances that are working but we need about 4,000 to help all the people in the country. This information was given by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare through the Nigerian Emergency Medical Services and Ambulance System during a workshop that lasted for two days in Abuja.
At the workshop Dr. Doubra Emuren, who is in charge of the Nigerian Emergency Medical Services and Ambulance System said that the network connectivity in Nigeria is not good enough and this is causing problems for emergency response operations. He said “the network coverage is not reliable and this is disrupting the emergency call systems and coordination across the country and people are not using the emergency ambulance service as much as they should.
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“The workshop was organized by the Nigerian Emergency Medical Services and Ambulance System and the Solina Center for International Development and Research. The goal of the workshop is to help the media talk about emergency services in Nigeria and to make people more aware of these services. Dr. Emuren said that the network infrastructure in Nigeria is not consistent and this is a problem, especially in areas that are far away and hard to reach.
When there are emergencies in these areas the response is often delayed because the network connectivity is not good.He also talked about the National Emergency Number 112 which is managed by the NCC. “That even though this number is supposed to make emergency calls efficient it does not work well in many parts of the country.
“The network and emergency response systems are not working well together and this is causing delays in getting services to people who need them. “network connectivity is very important for emergency response and when the networks fail it takes longer to respond and this can put peoples lives in danger.
“Dr. Emuren thanked some telecommunications companies, like MTN for their help. He said that the government needs to make sure that the rules are enforced and that the infrastructure is improved so that the network coverage is good all, over the country.
