Emmanuel O. Fashakin, Attorney at Law & Medical Director, Abbydek Family Medical Practice, P.C. We are asking the impossible, and the unreasonable. No medical team on the trains anywhere in the world. What people have is effective communication between trains and next station, and effective ambulance service to evacuate anyone needing medical attention immediately to the hospital after pickup from the station. There are not enough medical personnel to deploy on trains, where no medical emergency occurs 99.99% of the times. It would be sheer waste to put medical personnel on each train.
It is totally unattainable and wasteful. What we need are:
- Good communication between train and nearest stations
- Good ambulance services, ready to be deployed to the stations at short notice
- Good state of the art Healthcare facilities
All three are wanting in Nigeria. You live in Naija at your peril.
Dele Aloko, Lawyer and Business Executive
Is there a requirement, anywhere in the world, to have a medical crew on board every train for a 3-4 hour journey?
What’s the frequency of medical emergencies on such trains?
Methinks what is required is to train the attendants on the train in the administration of first aid
It is sad that the police escort died in this case, but I would not put the blame on NRC. There should rather be questions about his routine healthcare services – when last he had a medical exam, whether he was on routine medication, etc.
Moses Okezie-Okafor an Abuja lawyer added: “Sad that somebody fell ill and died, but no negligence is disclosed against NRC or Government. Beyond basic first aid, it is not best practices to have a mobile clinic, with doctors on board transportation vehicles, not even intercontinental airplanes with hundreds of passengers. This report should not make it seem strange the Abuja-Kaduna train did not have one. What specific private sector operators do is up to them. Here’s a helpful report:
What medical facilities can I avail during my travel in Indian Railway, and How?
For example, on the Indian Railway trains there are no doctors on board, except a few trains like Duranto, which has doctor on board and can provide the immediate medical help to any passenger in need. Otherwise in any train, if any passenger in need of the medical help, can inform the train conductor, the ticket checking staff or the Guard on duty in the train. They send immediate message to the next station, with Railway hospital and the medical doctor facility, who will attend the patient passenger, and if required the passenger can be deboarded from the train and taken to the hospital, accompanied by the railway doctor.
Read also: No medical team in the Kaduna-Abuja Train where police escort died
Normally in the reservation chart available with the ticket checking staff in the train, the detail of any doctor travelling in the train as a passenger is available, and hence in emergency any such doctor on board can also be called for any emergency assistance.
“Certainly the railway staff on duty in the train are sensitized enough to respond and take necessary steps and action to extend any possible emergency medical help to any a passenger in need of medical help. In your case, as you suggested it’s a critical situation, I will suggest, as a safe side, to travel with a doctor, so that you can manage any contingency safely.
