Shadow minister asks police to prioritise emergency response
A police officer guides motorists at Nkumba University traffic lights along the Entebbe - Kampala expressway after the driver of a cement mixer truck UAN 836D lost control and rammed into the barriers in the middle of the road before falling onto a Mitsubishi RVR UBQ 371P on April 17, 2024. PHOTO/ EVE MUGANGA
What you need to know:
- A preliminary report shows that the three said vehicles were in the same direction facing Entebbe from Kampala, and while at Nkumba traffic lights waiting to be released, motor vehicle UAN 836B, a concrete mixer from behind, lost control and failed to brake, as the driver tried to dodge the vehicles in front of him, [he] hit a pavement on the side of the road and overturned, falling onto m/v UBQ 371P killing instantly its driver one Okoit Raphael M/A, 34 years of age, a lawyer working with MALDEF Advocates and a resident of Seeta. The same vehicle went ahead and damaged m/v UG 310006.
The Shadow Minister for Works and Transport, Mr Francis Mwijukye, has asked police to respond to emergencies such as road crashes with speed, hours after a lawyer perished in a freak accident on Kampala-Entebbe highway yesterday morning.
The brakes of a hurtling concrete mixer truck failed on approach to Nkumba Traffic Lights junction where a number of motorists had queued for the all-clear green light.
As the driver attempted to power over the road separator onto the empty carriageway for oncoming traffic, the truck twisted and fell on its sides, smashing Raphael Okiot, 34, in his new car.
Emergency responders delayed to arrive at the scene swamped by onlookers, witnesses said, prompting Mr Mwijukye, who represents Buhweju in the 11th Parliament, to press for reforms.
“The country has not prioritised such an emergency response,” he said, faulting police for speedy response to Opposition rallies and civil disobedience and doing the opposite to emergencies.
The Opposition MP said the government should inject more funds to procure equipment that can be used for rescue and recovery during emergencies on land, water and in the air.
“If you get a fire outbreak, they will tell you the equipment is at somebody’s house. They will tell you the whole region has just one equipment for such a fire response or they say ‘we don’t have one’. So, they must prioritise this emergency equipment,” he added.
We were unable to speak to police for this article by press time.
However, Health ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Ainebyoona said the country is in a good state to handle emergency cases.
“We have the required teams we have trained to handle the emergency situations. All highways have emergency ambulances and some are under Uganda Red Cross Society and police. I can’t say they are enough, but they are there,” Mr Ainebyoona added.
According to him, the delay in responding to yesterday’s accident at Nkumba might have been caused by the failure of witnesses to communicate to the emergency team in time.
The Shadow Minister for Works and Transport, Mr Francis Mwijukye
What the 2021 National Emergency Medical Services Policy says
Background
Government of Uganda is cognizant of the urgent need to establish a functional and integrated Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system in Uganda. There are currently insufficient investments in EMS from out-of-hospital emergency care (OHEC) to hospital emergency care. The Health Sector Development Plan (HSDP) 1, as well as the Strategy for Improving Health Service Delivery 2016-2021, emphasise the need to establish ambulance and referral services as key outcomes for the period.
Prioritising the provision of initial resuscitation, stabilisation, and treatment to acutely ill and injured patients, and delivery of those patients to the best available definitive care have been shown to reduce the mortality from a range of medical, surgical, trauma and obstetric conditions.
Emergency care can make an enormous contribution to reducing avoidable death and disability in low- and middle-income countries. Effective emergency care needs to be well planned and supported at all levels and should consider the entire spectrum of care, from the occurrence of a medical emergency in the community to the provision of definitive care at a health facility.
Minister Aceng’s forward
According to Health minister Jane Ruth Aceng, the development of the National Emergency Medical Services Policy was in response to the public outcry over limited response to emergencies right from the scene of an emergency (home, school, work or location) to accident and emergency units in health facilities, non-functional ambulances, and lack of coordination of the various stakeholders.
The HSDP 2016/17-2020/21, the President’s Strategic Directives to the Health Sector and the NRM Government Manifesto 2016-2021, spell out the establishment of a functional ambulance and referral system as one of the key deliverables by 2021.
She explained that emergency care is an essential element of Universal Health Coverage. It covers a spectrum of activities, including prehospital care and transport, initial evaluation, diagnosis and resuscitation, and in-hospital care. It demands a multi-disciplinary approach. The interventions provided along this continuum make a difference between life and death. Emergency care providers deal with non-critical to very critically ill patients along a continuum from the community at the roadside, or at mass gatherings and disasters to emergency units in health facilities.
Residents look on as a crane lifts the concrete mixer truck off Raphael Okiot’s car on Entebbe Road on April 17,2024.
Emergency Care – Global Context
Every year 45 million preventable deaths occur in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). Injury contributes significantly to these conditions. The World Report on Road Injury Traffic Prevention (2004) 8 states that five million people die from violence and injury and more than 100 million people sustain injuries alone. Strengthening emergency care could effectively save 400,000 lives globally every year.
Extracted from the Ministry of Health’s National Emergency
Medical Services Policy of 2021
Road accidents
Six main causes of crashes in Uganda
• Speeding
• Careless overtaking
• Overtaking at blind corners and hills
• Overtaking multiple cars at once
• Distractions such as using mobile phones
• Road obstruction by broken-down vehicles
How to keep safe on the road
• Always adhere to speed limits
• Exercise caution and patience before overtaking vehicles
• Display rectangular reflectors either side to signal other motorists of broken-down vehicles
• Alert nearest police for towing away of broken-down cars
• Keep vigilant on the road, always, and dial toll-free line 0800199099 to report obstructions or emergencies.
Source: Uganda Police Force website
Background
Government of Uganda is cognizant of the urgent need to establish a functional and integrated Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system in Uganda. There are currently insufficient investments in EMS from out-of-hospital emergency care (OHEC) to hospital emergency care.
The Health Sector Development Plan (HSDP) 1, as well as the Strategy for Improving Health Service Delivery 2016-2021, emphasise the need to establish ambulance and referral services as key outcomes for the period.
Prioritising the provision of initial resuscitation, stabilisation, and treatment to acutely ill and injured patients, and delivery of those patients to the best available definitive care have been shown to reduce the mortality from a range of medical, surgical, trauma and obstetric conditions.
Emergency care can make an enormous contribution to reducing avoidable death and disability in low- and middle-income countries. Effective emergency care needs to be well planned and supported at all levels and should consider the entire spectrum of care, from the occurrence of a medical emergency in the community to the provision of definitive care at a health facility.
Minister Aceng’s forward
According to Health minister Jane Ruth Aceng, the development of the National Emergency Medical Services Policy was in response to the public outcry over limited response to emergencies right from the scene of an emergency (home, school, work or location) to accident and emergency units in health facilities, non-functional ambulances, and lack of coordination of the various stakeholders.
The HSDP 2016/17-2020/21, the President’s Strategic Directives to the Health Sector and the NRM Government Manifesto 2016-2021, spell out the establishment of a functional ambulance and referral system as one of the key deliverables by 2021.
She explained that emergency care is an essential element of Universal Health Coverage. It covers a spectrum of activities, including prehospital care and transport, initial evaluation, diagnosis and resuscitation, and in-hospital care. It demands a multi-disciplinary approach.
The interventions provided along this continuum make a difference between life and death. Emergency care providers deal with non-critical to very critically ill patients along a continuum from the community at the roadside, or at mass gatherings and disasters to emergency units in health facilities.
Emergency Care – Global Context
Every year 45 million preventable deaths occur in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). Injury contributes significantly to these conditions.
The World Report on Road Injury Traffic Prevention (2004) 8 states that five million people die from violence and injury and more than 100 million people sustain injuries alone. Strengthening emergency care could effectively save 400,000 lives globally every year.
Extracted from the Ministry of Health’s National Emergency
Medical Services Policy of 2021
Failing brakes and freak accidents
Previous incidents
December 7, 2023: Two people died at Northern Bypass Namboole interchange and three others sustained injuries when a Kampala-bound trailer failed to brake and rammed into 10 vehicles.
November 4, 2023: A speeding commuter taxi killed nine people on the spot after slamming into a stationary trailer on the Jinja-Iganga highway.
June 15, 2023: A driver of an Isuzu Elf truck lost control after the brakes failed, knocking four boda boda riders, killing one of them.
March 14, 2023: A truck crashes into a classroom at Kasaka Secondary School in Kanoni Town Council, Gomba District, killing four students on the spot and injuring 20.
March 2, 2023: A Canter truck rams into the perimeter wall of Candy Kids Nursery and Primary School in Kamuli, Kira Municipality, killing seven-year-old Robinah Nakafero, who was in Primary Two.
November 7, 2019: A Sino truck filled with aggregate stones fails to brake and crashes a boda boda posthumously identified as William Matovu on Ntinda-Kiwatule Road. Eight others were injured.
April 24, 2019: A trailer loses brakes in Bukoto, in Kampala, and ploughs through vehicles at Kira Road Police traffic lights, claiming the lives of three and injuring several.
April 22, 2018: A Fuso truck fails to brake and slams into the traffic lights at Nakawa, a city suburb. No one was killed or injured, but critical road safety infrastructure was damaged.
1990s: Twenty people perish after brakes of a packed commuter taxi fails at Namboole interchange, and plunges into a deep side drain.
Compiled by Busein Samilu
