SYDNEY MUBAIWA
GUTU- Hundreds villagers from Mushayavanhu in Gutu Central Constituency on Saturday last week got free basic first aid training and essential healthcare services under the Presidential Emergency Medical Scheme.
The training which was facilitated by Discovery Ambulance Services, was aimed at equipping as many people as possible with first aid skills so that they can be first responders in the event of a medical emergency. Villagers also got access to free treatment courtesy of Discovery Ambulance Services.
Discovery Ambulance Services founder and Chief Executive Executive Officer (CEO) David Munowenyu in an interview said it was necessary that first responders to a medical emegerncy know what to do as they wait for the arrival of the ambulances to take the patients to a nearby health facility.
“As Discovery Ambulance Services we invested in emergency services and we now have ambulances across the country. For an ambulance to be effective, there is need for first responders to an emergency to know what they need to do with a patient before calling an ambulance.
“So we are empowering communities to be able to deal with emergencies and by so doing we are saving lives because we have realised that in some circumstances, patients unnecessarily lose their lives because the first responders would have failed to apply basic health solutions to save a life. We are taking the medical emergency programme to every corner of the country,” he said.
Minister of State for National Security Lovemore Matuke who was the guest of honor at the programme urged villagers to take advantage of the free trainings to improve their livelihoods.
“The programme which we are witnessing here is of paramount importance. It is one of the programmes implemented by President Mnangagwa and his administration to empower communities. We should take advantage of such programmes to improve our livelihoods,” he said.
Area legislator and Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando said the programme is aimed at empowering rural communities so that they are fully qualified to respond to emergencies.
“We have been conducting these medical outreach for a number of years in our bid to empower the rural folks in grasping essential skills for emergencies. We want to make sure that our communities have access to healthcare services,” he said.
One of the trainees Joseph Mhike said the programme is an eye -opener which came just free of charge.
“We have benefited from free training and I now know how to handle an emergency in the home environment,” he said.
