Road safety: Group trains 360 truck ambulance drivers on COVID-19

A non-governmental organisation, the Green light Initiative has commenced training for 360 trucks driver ambulance in Abuja.

The three-day training with the theme: “Safety Training for Truck & Ambulance Drivers during COVID-19” which was in collaboration with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Federal Ministry of Health, is to enlighten drivers on safe usage of roads’.

Beneficiaries were drawn from the six geopolitical regions in the country.

Declaring the training open on Tuesday, the group Executive Director, Simon Obi, said the essence was to empower the drivers and their assistants with COVID-19 safety protocols; basic Infection prevention and control; basic first aid, appropriate and rationale use of personal protective equipment (PPE) as well as educate them on road safety measures. 

It will be recalled that since the discovery of the index case of COVID-19 virus in February 27, 2020 in Nigeria, the number of confirmed cases has continued to rise to a record figure of over 64,000 while fatalities have gone up to more than 1,154, Obi said.

According to the organiser, more than 80% of the Nigeria economic activities were largely hinged on road transport, saying people and goods will need to move from point A to B for daily lives duties.

They nevertheless observed that many people commuted without applying safety protocols thereby contributing to the further spread of the COVID-19 virus.

“Truck and ambulance drivers who are responsible for the transportation of medical supplies, patient, and logistics needed for COVID-19 management in Nigeria are ill-trained and equipped due to lack of resources to train, retrain, and to provide them with personal protecting equipment. 

“Similarly, many of these drivers operate without the knowledge of road safety, these has resulted to injuries, loss of lives, and damage to medical and logistics equipment needed for a functional health supply chain.

The negative consequences of all these problems are spread across health commodity transportation and logistics challenges; unendurable workforce; lack of occupational safety practices and dangerous working environment,” he said.

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