The National Ambulance Service has appealed for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for its staff as part of efforts to save them from getting infected with the COVID-19 virus in their line of duty.

Professor Ahmed Nuhu Zakaria, Executive Director, National Ambulance Service, who made the appeal said a lot of the resources would be needed in the pre-hospital scene explaining that apart from paramedics protecting themselves, patients needed to be protected by wearing at least the face mask to prevent the patient from coughing and sneezing on the health care attendant.

Prof Zakaria made the appeal at a press briefing organised by the Ministry of Information to give an update on the COVID-19 pandemic.

“From the National Ambulance Service perspective, we want to bring to the attention of the public that as far as the fight against COVID 19 is concerned, is a shared responsibility and we are an interface between the community and the hospitals”.

He said of all the COVID-19 cases (566), over 270 of them had to be moved from one location to the other by an Ambulance Service because of one medical condition or the other.

Prof Zakaria said the origin of these patients were from hotels 118, hospitals 64, residents 80, FM stations two, police station five, and immigration office one.

“Now, anytime you hear that a COVID-19 case has been confirmed, it means that someone in the community who was having the SARS COV 2 has transmitted it to another person,” he said.

“So it is advisable to stay at home; so that at least, we will all help slow the rate of transmission.”

He appealed to the public to give the paramedic the right information about a person’s health, so that they would be in able to handle them well.

“If you have to transport a case that is COVID-19 and you do not give the right information, the patient is transported like an ordinary case. In a case like this, you are jeopardizing and risking the lives of everybody involved in the treatment.