The Federal Road Safety Corps has deployed more than 170 ambulances nationwide to strengthen emergency response and rescue operations on Nigerian roads.

Osondu Ohaeri, FRSC’s spokesman, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja, while responding to questions about the operational capacity of agency’s emergency ambulance network and its response to road traffic crashes.

Mr Ohaeri said the FRSC had the largest number of ambulances among emergency response agencies in Nigeria, with more than 170 ambulances and 60 Zebra points across the country. He said, however, the figure should not be interpreted as the number of ambulances currently operational or serviceable.

According to him, an accurate current figure of serviceable ambulances requires the latest fleet-status report from the FRSC’s medical and rescue office.

He explained that the figures demonstrated the scale of the agency’s emergency response network, while the availability of individual ambulances was managed operationally based on their location, condition and assignment.

On the adequacy of the ambulances for emergency rescue, he said the corps continued to maintain and deploy its assets as part of its emergency response responsibilities, stressing that the status of individual vehicles could vary depending on their operational condition and assignment.

Mr Ohaeri said the corps was also focused on improving its emergency response capacity, particularly by strengthening rescue deployment and collaboration with other relevant agencies. He stated that FRSC had historically recorded an average response time of about 15 minutes under its documented emergency-response programme.

(NAN)