NEMA Resumes Air Ambulance Services Amid Aviation Fuel Scarcity

Kasim Sumaina in Abuja

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has hinted about the resumption of its air ambulance operations after a successful routine maintenance and completion of all civil aviation requirements.

 The resumption is coming on the heels of a global shortage of Jet-A1 fuel, even as some airlines in the country find it difficult to operate.

NEMA spokesperson, Manzo Ezekiel, in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja yesterday, noted that an official inaugural return flight was held as the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, and Director-General National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Habib Ahmed, were conveyed from Abuja to Dutse, Jigawa State, on official engagement.

The statement disclosed that in 2014, NEMA introduced its first air ambulance for emergency health care.

According to it, “The airplane, which was launched at the Trauma Centre of the National Hospital, Abuja, was for quick transportation of patients with emergency cases.

“Captain Ibrahim Mamman, the then Chief Pilot and Head of the NEMA Special Wing of the agency, said the project was part of the transformation agenda of the federal government of the time.

“The air ambulance can be used to transport patients with critical and traumatic health situation from anywhere the individual is.

“As a matter of fact, the jet can go anywhere in the world; it has the mile range of 3,000 miles,” Mamman had said.

The statement further said: “However, in 2018, operations of the air ambulance service were grounded after it was due to routine maintenance and regulatory requirement.

“Following changes in leadership, repair of the aircraft was completed in 2021 and returned from France. This year, the present management finalised all regulatory requirements to return the aircraft to its Ambulance operations.”