23 Oct 2022

Road accidents victims will continue to lose lives unless the country trains more people in first aid response.

Speaking at a one-day First Aid Level 1 Training workshop for Tagala Primary School teachers and their ancillary staff in Francistown Saturday, emergency medical trainer at the Institute of Industrial Health and Safety Management (IIHSM), Mr Shathiso Makhumalo said many road accident victims continued to die unnecessarily as they were often attended to by those lacked first aid skills.

He was worried that most of police officers who attended to accidents were not equipped with enough skills to handle accidents victims.

Mr Makhumalo said police officers were important as first respondents who usually reached the accident scene before any other medical professional.

He as such encouraged Botswana Police Service to routinely train its offices on first aid.

He said it was against this backdrop that the IIHSM was embarking on a series of workshops to impart first aid skills to many Batswana so that they could preserve lives.

Mr Makhumalo said his institute this time around targeted schools because teachers with basic first aid knowledge were likely to be more alert and aware of surrounding risks.

He said pupils were full of energy and prone to accidents hence the need to capacitate teachers on first aid skills.

“First aid in schools is especially helpful as children often get into accidents that may need swift care in order to prevent things from escalating,” Mr Makhumalo said.

He said first aid training promoted a sense of safety and ensured that people were not vulnerable to accidents and injuries.

Mr Makhumalo said first aid was an important tool in responding to accidents to ensure that injuries were effectively managed and promptly dealt with before a medical professional arrived to administer a more specialised treatment.

He also informed the workshop that first aiders were protected by law as human life was more paramount than anything else.

He said the person providing first aid who acted reasonably and prudently under the conditions of an emergency could not be held responsible for the injuries suffered by the victim.

He, however, cautioned first aiders not to go beyond their duty and that they should always seek for consent of their victim to perform first aid assistance on them.

Mr Makhumalo also cautioned participants, who will be awarded first aid certificates upon completion of the training, to always be vigilant and guard against exposing themselves to various diseases and conditions when undertaking their duties.

He advised them to wear protective clothing such as disposable gloves as well as face masks and shields, among others.

One of the participants, Ms Tebagano Ranko said the training came at the right time when incidences of school-related injuries among students were increasing.

Ms Ranko said the school community needed to be equipped with necessary first aid skills as they were dealing with vulnerable people.

Topics discussed included managing stress, cardiac arrest, bleeding, shock, basic life support, pulse rate, and human body systems. ENDs