LASUTH doctors empower Police with basic life support skills

TO fill the gaps in  emergency response skills among first responders in Lagos, members of the Association
of Resident Doctors of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH-ARD, last week trained officers and men of the Nigeria Police, on basic life support during emergencies.
The training was conducted for Area F Command, GRA, Ikeja alongside free medical outreach for members of the Force, even as the doctors called on the Federal Government to incorporate basic life training into the curriculum of the Nigeria Police College.

Speaking during the LASUTH-ARD 2015 Ordinary General Meeting, the Chief Medical Director of LASUTH, Prof. Wale Oke,l said if the Police are well equipped with adequate information and skills to attend to victims of emergencies it would reduce the number of death.

The Director, Clinical Services, Dr Ayo Adedokun who represented the CMD, noted that policemen are usually part of the first responders during emergencies but it had been found that most people either die of their injuries before they get to the hospital or dies as a result of being poorly managed before they reached the hospital.
“For instance, when there is bleeding, if you don’t know what to do and the bleeding is persistent, the person could bleed to death. If you know what to do to stop the bleeding you would save a life. “Again, people who have fractures in delicate areas that might injure the nerves or vessels, if you don’t know how to handle that fracture you will complicate issues.

“For fractures in the hand where there is a nerve, you need to know how to hold that hand and to fix it in a position so it does not move because if it moves and breaks a vessel, particularly the big vessels of the hand and thighs, all the blood in the body can be lost and the person can die before getting to the hospital,” he added. Oke posited that enabling the Police to respond at the site of an emergency would go a long way in saving lives.
The President, LASUTH-ARD, Dr Saheed Ahmad, said the choice of the Police was informed by the need to ensure that the three tiers of the Nigerian healthcare system – the pre – hospital, intermediate and between the scene of need and hospital care – are fully functional. Ahmad explained as first respondents, the Police in Nigeria have no basic life support training. He recalled that in the developed world, basic life support training is part of the curriculum of Police Colleges.
“In Nigeria, due to limited resources and other administrative issues, only officers of higher cadre, at some point during their career, get to attend this kind of training. For the rank and file, it is not available. “So you cannot blame them for the way they handle injured people. This is part of the reason we started this effort to fill that gap. Perhaps the sensitisation will be translated to policy makers and higher administrative levels of the Force so that they can bring the training down to the rank and file and incorporate it into the Police College Training,” Ahmad stated.