By Daniel Oluwatobiloba Popoola
The Federal Government has commenced the nationwide distribution of Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) ambulances and tricycle ambulances to strengthen emergency medical response, improve patient referrals and extend timely care to rural and hard-to-reach communities.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Daju Kachollom, disclosed this on Monday, 31st August, 2026, at the flag-off ceremony held at the National Trauma Centre, Riyom, Plateau State.
She said the intervention would tackle transportation and last-mile access challenges in communities where difficult terrain and distance often delay lifesaving care.
“Distance should not determine whether a life is saved,” she said, noting that timely emergency transportation is critical in maternal and newborn emergencies, childhood illnesses, road crashes and other trauma cases.
Kachollom Further explained that the intervention forms part of a Federal Government effort to establish a coordinated emergency medical service nationwide, with the National Emergency Medical Service and Ambulance System (NEMSAS) providing the framework for linking emergency response, transportation and referral services.
In Plateau State, she said, it would complement existing systems, including the State Ambulance System, the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) emergency-care pathway, and the Rural Emergency Service and Maternal Transport (RESMAT) initiative, supported by the SAVEMAMA Digital RESMAT platform.
She announced that Riyom General Hospital had been approved as an outpost of JUTH, following collaboration with the Plateau State Government, and urged beneficiaries to ensure proper deployment, maintenance, staffing and monitoring of the assets.
“The Federal Government has made its contribution, and we expect the State Government to complement this investment through appropriate budgetary commitments and contributory funding to strengthen and sustain emergency medical services across Plateau State,” she said, stressing that the programme’s success would be measured not by the number of vehicles distributed, but by lives saved and preventable deaths and disabilities reduced.
Kachollom also toured the Snakebite Treatment Centre, Zamko, a rural JUTH outpost, where she announced Federal Government support for snakebite management, describing it as a neglected tropical disease affecting rural farming communities.
She disclosed the donation of antivenoms to the centre and said efforts were underway to incorporate snakebite management into NEMSAS and the social health insurance scheme, to improve treatment access and ease the financial burden on affected families.
The Plateau State Governor, Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang, represented by his deputy, Josephine Piyo, commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Federal Government for the intervention, assuring that the ambulances would be properly deployed, responsibly utilised and maintained.
The Chief Medical Director of JUTH disclosed that about 1,115 patients had been transported in Jos East and more than 900 in Riyom under the emergency transport initiative, describing it as significant to efforts to reduce maternal mortality and strengthen emergency care.
