Nkem Momah

Nkem is improving road traffic safety and increasing awareness of public health and emergency first aid through his organization, Lifeline, the first multi-pronged emergency rescue initiative in Nigeria.

Nkem believes that the extremely high death rate from automobile accidents in Nigeria can be drastically reduced if life saving first aid and emergency rescue services were available and timely. Based on this conviction, Nkem has started the Lifeline Rescue Care Association, the first citizen sector organization addressing the needs of emergency healthcare in Nigeria. Lifeline ensures accident victims get the immediate attention that they need through a 24 hour emergency hotline and unique Rescue Card Scheme. Nkem’s Emergency Rescue Card Scheme provides members of his association with a wallet-sized card that bears critical information helpful at an accident or disaster scene, such as the health status of the bearer, blood group and genotype, contact details on their next of kin, and Lifeline’s emergency numbers. Lifeline also has an ambulance service which rescues accident victims, provides emergency medical treatment, and transports them to the nearest health centre or hospital for further care.

Nkem is also reviving the forgotten practice of first aid education by teaching first and emergency aid to school pupils and the general public through workshops and seminars. His Lifeline Rescue Care Association will help to educate rural and urban populations on the importance of timely emergency aid and prevent avoidable deaths due to road accidents and other disasters.

In Nigeria, ambulance and rescue services are scarce and often sub-standard in quality. In most cities in Nigeria, including the federal capital Abuja, there are no ambulance services. Accident victims only get medical aid if there is “Good Samaritan” near by willing to transport them to hospital. Good Samaritans are drastically reducing in numbers because of police practice of arresting rescuers to determine if they were the cause of the accident. Many Good Samaritans have found themselves victims of police brutality as they are sometimes tortured to extract information from them about the accident. Numerous news stories report that very often the victim eventually dies without being able to tell the police facts surrounding the accident and the Good Samaritan is sometimes charged for manslaughter even when he/she was not responsible for the accident. It is, therefore, not uncommon for many accident victims to bleed to death by the road side from the lack of assistance. Furthermore, in almost all cases where accident victims are brought to the hospital, the rescuer is made to purchase a hospital registration card and deposit a specific amount of money before the victim can be treated. In many cases, the Good Samaritans do not have this money and the victim dies on the hospital bed without receiving any treatment.

The government has tried to improve its provision of emergency services by setting up a road safety corps and road marshals who try to limit speed on the roads and transport to accident victims to hospitals. However, these road marshals are fewer than are required, are ill equipped, do not have ambulances and many do not even know first aid. On most occasions when they do appear at the scene of an accident, transfer accident victims in regular cars, sometimes causing more harm to the victim than the accident itself. Worst still, there are no emergency hotlines to inform rescue personnel that they are needed at an accident scene. Citizen sector organisations have tended to shy away from this type of public safety initiative because of the high cost of ambulances and complexities surrounding running a rescue service.

Nkem’s first step in improving Nigeria’s emergency response system was to set up his Lifeline Rescue Care Association in 2005 as a citizen sector organisation based in Abuja dedicated to emergency relief. Lifeline provides three basic services in the area of emergency relief. These components include an Emergency Rescue Card Scheme, a 24 hour emergency hotline and ambulance service, and a first aid and emergency care education program for students and the general public.

Nkem set up a pilot emergency center run by 9 staff and 5 volunteers. The 24 hour emergency and ambulance service is operated mostly by trained volunteers who are recruited from within Abuja. Those requiring the services of the ambulance need only call the hotline and an ambulance will be dispatched. To make sure that the accident victims are given the urgent attention they require without the usual protocol of buying registration cards and so on, Nkem has developed a relationship with major hospitals all around Abuja which ensures that accident victims are treated promptly with or without payment or identification. He is also advocating for a ban on hospital and clinic’s rejection of accident victims who cannot pay immediately.

Nkem has designed an Emergency Rescue Card, which has vital information helpful to appropriately assisting accident victims. The card gives basic information for first aid emergency intervention, instant access to a central database where additional information pertinent to the cardholder is stored, such as next of kin information, allergies/medical history, and also provides a credit payment for the first day of treatment at affiliated hospitals. Holders of the card are advised to carry it on their person at all times so that rescuers will know to contact the helpline and ambulance attendants will have the vital information needed for immediate life saving care (i.e. insulin injections, blood transfusions, etc) if necessary. The card scheme is also a sustainable source of funding for the initiative as holders have to pay N500 (a little over $3) for it, and the card is renewable annually at 50% the original price paid for the original membership. This can translate into millions of Naira when the initiative becomes widespread. He began distributing cards in June 2006 and projects that he will have 100,000 subscribers by the end of the year. He also envisions to have set up 8 emergency centers staffed with 3-4 trained personnel and at least one ambulance. By 2007, he plans to have 250,000 cardholders throughout the capital city of Abuja, and by 2008 he plans to have 500,000 cardholders beyond the district of Abuja.

Recognising that the first few minutes can be the most crucial for an accident victim, Nkem is educating the students and the public through workshops on appropriate first aid for accident victims. This way the vital help that an accident victim needs can be given to him/her even before an ambulance arrives from any member of the community.

To spread his idea, Nkem is partnering with the Road Safety Corps to improve their services and expand his own operations. Nkem has been able to receive support from local oil companies, hotels, radio, television outlets to gain media attention and sponsorship.

A medical doctor, Nkem, was involved in a ghastly motor accident in June of 1999 which sent him into a coma for 27 days. He temporarily lost most of his motor functions and had to endure almost 9 months of intensive rehabilitative care. His recovery was gradual and tortuous, but it afforded him the opportunity to reflect deeply on his accident. His survival of this tragedy was due largely to the intervention of a ‘Good Samaritan’. This Good Samaritan saved Nkem’s life against all odds and that experience made Nkem determined to give back to humanity what was given to him through this second lease on life. To Nkem, the Lifeline Rescue Care Association remains his own way of being a Good Samaritan to all road traffic accident victims, potential victims, and indeed the community at large.