50Th Anniversary: UBTH Trains Over 500 In Basic Life Support For First Responders

By Osariemen Idiaghe

Over 500 Benin City residents were recently trained by the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) in Basic Life Support (BLS) for first Responders.

The training programme which is part of activities to mark the hospital’s 50th anniversary which comes up on May 12, 2023 had it’s theme: Advancing the legacy of quality health care. Participants at the training included security operatives, para military operatives, journalists, market women and other members of the public.

The training provided participants with basic knowledge and skills required for Cadio- Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and other relevant procedures needed in emergency situations. Speaking at the event, the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Darlington Obaseki said the essence of the programme is to train those who are not medical personnel on how to resuscitate people who are on medical emergencies.

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“We as a hospital decided that we want to use the opportunity of our 50th anniversary to come and teach the whole society, especially the first responders, namely, Road Safety, Police operatives, journalists and others who are usually the first at events.”

He further disclosed that the management of the hospital has arranged series of events as a give back to members of the public as a build up to the anniversary day.

The Deputy Coordinator of the Paramedics Training School of UBTH, Dr John Abebe disclosed that the training was to create awareness of life saving skills to save members of the public that could be involved in any kind of emergencies.

“The training is very important because from day to day, we have emergencies that are not planned or prepared for. We need to know what to do as first aid instead of snapping pictures of the victim with our phones to upload on the. internet as the end result is not always good.”

The programme is to train responders that is a public person, that goes around the step by step idea of what to do in time of emergencies and not to kill the person in the process of trying to assist the person.”

Highlight of the training was presentation of certificates to all participants.