Kenyans have been advised to enrol for first aid training due to the increasing demand for emergency medical care services across the country.
St John Ambulance CEO Harun Gikera said there is a shortage of qualified persons to save lives.
He spoke during a graduation ceremony of 30 Emergency Medical Technicians at South C, Nairobi, on Friday.
He said the graduation is a result of the partnership between the Ministry of Health, St John Ambulance and Kenya Medical Training College.
According to St John Ambulance Kenya Act Cap 259 law of Kenya 1975, it is mandated to provide emergency medical support to communities, to promote charitable works aimed at reducing human suffering and to provide technical services to medical sector.
The first batch of EMT students was enrolled in July 2012 in Nairobi and Mombasa county and by 2018 they had trained 700 students.
This marked the first graduation after partnership with KMTC and the Ministry of education.
In a speech read by the head of health standards and quality assurance directorate Simon Kibias, health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said that the Ministry is committed to providing the highest attainable standards of health as a constitutional right.
"This treatment package includes pre-hospital care, stabilisation of the health sector of affected individuals and arranging for referral in case of lack of facilities to stabilise the health status of the victim", CS kagwe said.
Kagwe noted the strides made in development of requisite frameworks to strengthen emergency medical care services by MOH.
"The Ministry of Health has appointed a national emergency medical care steering committee for a period of 3 years," Kagwe said.
The committee will operationalise and provide oversight, establish legislation, standards and regulations, develop national guidelines for emergency medical care, harmonise training curriculum and develop framework for the utilisation of medical treatment funds.
He recognised the intrinsic support and role played by paramedics and EMT in operating ambulances during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
"As a unit, we feel very happy when we save one life."The National Disaster Management Unit(NDMU) Director general, Duncan Ochieng' said during the graduation.
He also pointed out that EMTs are very important since they are responsible for offering the most basic treatment required before a patient is taken to hospital and these services determine how well a patient recovers in hospital.
As a national body, the NDMU is mandated to ensuring collaboration and coordination of all emergency service providers.
Ochieng' assured Kenyans that his unit shall continue to handle all disaster, mitigation, preparedness and recovery issues to ensure that all citizens are safe.
"Everybody needs to know how to save a life." Ochieng' said.
He added that every household to have at least one EMT .
"The unit is moving forward in terms of capacity building and is looking forward to ensuring that training and capacity development is carried out to all Kenyans," he added.
The Director of occupational safety and health services Andrew Muruka said that first aid audits will become a requirement in every workplace in Kenya and that the graduates can be recognised if they register a company.
Muruka said that his office is responsible for compensating all those that have been injured in workplaces and industries in Kenya.
Linet Chepkirui a graduate of EMT said that she is happy to graduate and looks forward to volunteer, save lives and serve humanity