With the nation under a barrage of unabated attacks by the radical Boko Haram sect, the Nigeria Federal Government has announced plans to establish national trauma centers across Africa’s most populous country.
The creation of the centers will ensure surviving victims of these increasingly frequent terrorist attacks receive more immediate and effective treatment.
Speaking at a news conference in Abuja, Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, who announced the plan, said the trauma centers planted in key cities are near completion.
“We are almost completed,” Prof. Chukwu said. “The trauma center at the national hospital should be ready in July for use; the one at the University of Abuja teaching hospital should be ready at the same time.”
The trauma centers are also coming equipped with helicopters that will aid a more effective evacuation and transportation of critical patients, the minister explained.
“We are working seriously to have all the modern facilities, including facilities for evacuation helicopters to land and take off,” Chukwu said.
Also speaking at the press briefing was Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, attributed the spate of terror attacks in the country to the activities of a “few evil network of people”.
He assured, however, the federal government will work hard to rise to the challenges the nation is currently faced with.
The announcement comes after a wave of attacks by the Boko Haram sect in recent days, targeting newspaper offices in Abuja and Kaduna, as well as worship places in Kano and Maiduguri over the weekend.
Boko Haram’s increasingly frequent attacks have claimed over 300 lives this year alone.
