The National Emergency Medical Service and Ambulance System (NEMSAS) has announced that 5,255 Nigerians benefited from the Emergency Medical Treatment (EMT) Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) between the fourth quarter of 2024 and February 2025.
The EMT Gateway Fund played a crucial role in providing financial support to improve access to emergency healthcare services across the country.
National programme manager at NEMSAS under the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), Dr. Saidu Dumbulwa disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja during the 10th quarterly meeting of the Ministerial Oversight Committee for BHCPF, where stakeholders reviewed the fund’s implementation progress.
Dumbulwa stated that 3,952 beneficiaries received emergency medical care in tertiary health facilities, while 1,303 accessed support through the State Emergency Medical Service and Ambulance System (SEMSAS) pathway.
He explained that the EMT Gateway Fund was designed to ensure timely access to life-saving medical interventions, particularly for vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, children under five, and individuals facing critical health emergencies.
He emphasised that the initiative aligns with ongoing national efforts to strengthen emergency healthcare and reduce mortality rates linked to delays in accessing treatment.
He revealed that 25 states and 12 tertiary health facilities have been empaneled under the EMT Gateway Fund, marking a significant step toward expanding emergency medical services nationwide.
Additionally, he highlighted that the initiative aligns with the World Bank-supported Rural Emergency Service and Maternal Transport (RESMAT) project, which aims to improve emergency medical transport and maternal healthcare in underserved communities.
According to Dumbulwa, the RESMAT project is currently being piloted across 15 states, including Ebonyi, Ekiti, Delta, Ogun, Lagos, Bauchi, Gombe, Nasarawa, Sokoto, Kano, Kaduna, Yobe, Taraba, Plateau and Rivers.
He further disclosed that a memorandum of agreement has been signed between the World Bank, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) and the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP), with a performance framework in place to track the project’s implementation.
Key milestones achieved so far include extensive stakeholder engagements across the 15 pilot states to develop an implementation framework tailored to local contexts. Additionally, 150 programme implementation unit (PIU) staff have been trained to enhance coordination, fiduciary management, and operational capacity.
Dumbulwa added that 45 trainers in community first aid response have been trained to pass on knowledge to community emergency medical transport triage officers (CEMTTOs) and emergency transport operators (ETOs) in each ward.
The procurement of operational equipment, including laptops, printers, Android phones and GPS trackers, has also been completed, alongside the purchase of emergency medical service assets such as petrol/CNG-fueled tricycle ambulances and boat ambulances to improve emergency response in rural areas.
To further strengthen Nigeria’s emergency healthcare system, he explained that the RESMAT model operates as follows:
Community Emergency Medical Transport Triage Officers (CEMTTOs), selected by Ward Development Committees (WDCs), serve as community dispatch officers, coordinating emergency transport and mapping healthcare facilities.
Emergency Transport Operators (ETOs), drawn from the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and private vehicle owners, are enlisted and sensitised in each community to provide prompt medical transport services.
A fixed tariff of N10,000 is electronically paid to emergency transport operators through a USSD-based payment system, ensuring instant financial settlement.
Pregnant women are issued vouchers to track antenatal care (ANC), delivery, postnatal care and referrals, ensuring accountability in service provision.
The initiative is also aligned with the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Initiative (MAMII) to enhance healthcare access for mothers and infants.
Dumbulwa stated that under the World Bank-funded RESMAT pilot, NEMSAS has targeted 290 local government areas (LGAs) across the 15 pilot states.
He revealed that 77 out of the 172 MAMII-prioritized LGAs have been identified for intervention under RESMAT.
To expand its reach, he said NEMSAS is open to collaborating with SCO-MAMII to scale up the RESMAT strategy across the remaining 95 LGAs, ensuring wider healthcare coverage and improved maternal and child health outcomes.
He outlined the next steps in the EMT Gateway Fund and RESMAT implementation, which include the disbursement of operational funds to states based on the signed memorandum of agreement and performance framework.
Efforts will also be fast-tracked to procure and distribute emergency medical service assets to support project implementation.
According to him, the rollout of the USSD payment system will be accelerated to facilitate instant electronic payments to emergency transport operators, while collaboration with MAMII will be strengthened to expand intervention efforts to additional LGAs.
Dumbulwa reaffirmed NEMSAS’s commitment to improving emergency healthcare access, reducing maternal and child mortality and strengthening Nigeria’s emergency response system.
He called on stakeholders, including state governments, healthcare providers and development partners, to support ongoing initiatives to ensure a seamless and efficient emergency medical transport system across Nigeria.
