By Florence Afriyie Mensah, GNA
Kumasi, Oct. 29, GNA - A day’s workshop to deliberate on ways to strengthen the base and effectiveness of first responder care in emergency health care delivery in Ghana, has been organized for stakeholders in the pre-hospital setting.
The event, organised by the Emergency Medicine Society of Ghana and the Injury Research Centre at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), aimed at reviewing global scenarios in that area of health care and bring the participants at par, to ensure quality standard practice.
It brought together stakeholders in first care response including specialists from the Emergency Medicine Directorate of the KATH, Ghana National Ambulance Service, Ghana Police and Fire Services, National Road Safety Authority and the Ghana Education Service.
Others included the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), and the Progressive Transport Owners’ Association (PROTOA).
Dr. Maxwell Osei-Ampofo, Head of the Emergency Unit at KATH, speaking at the opening said initial response and first care given to patients in emergency situations, were critical to clinical outcomes of such patients at the hospital level.
In Ghana, he said, despite the care provided by the National Ambulance Service, most pre-hospital care were delivered by first care responders including the Police and Fire Services.
It was therefore important to equip all key stakeholders with requisite skills and knowledge to provide them with the needed equipment and logistics, for effective delivery.
The KATH emergency centre was set up a decade ago to provide services and also train emergency doctors and nurses, and other specialists involved in injury, trauma and all emergencies including orthopaedic surgeons and trauma surgeons.
It has trained more than 300 emergency nurses and some 40 emergency medicine specialist and further supported the training of all emergency medical technicians at the National Ambulance Service training centre at Nkenkansu in the Offinso North District.
Dr. Osei-Ampofo pointed out that the establishment of the emergency training school had help bridged the gap in emergency and clinical care and stressed the need to expand the school to train more emergency health professionals to reduce fatalities in emergency situations.
Professor Peter Donkor, of the Department of Surgery at the KNUST, said the university had played a pivotal role in leading research in injury to bring new knowledge and control measures while working closely with other state agencies to create awareness on the problem of injury in Ghana.
He praised the University of Washington, Seattle for collaborating with KNUST to train emergency physicians in research methodology.
Professor Charles Mock, Professor of Surgery at the University of Washington, Seattle, commended the National Ambulance Service for its continued efforts in first response care, despite the constraints in logistical support.
GNA
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