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George Maponga in MASVINGO

A hundred first aid responders drawn from Zaka and Mwenezi districts have received certificates from the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) after successfully completing the First Aid Training course for Road Crash First Responders which equips them with skills to assist road traffic crash victims along the country’s roads and highways.

The certification ceremony took place at Jerera Growth point in Zaka and was presided over by the Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development Joshua Sacco.

The training is billed to spread to all districts around Zimbabwe and dovetails with President Mnangagwa’s mantra of ‘leaving no one and no place behind’.

In his address Deputy Minister Sacco said Government is concerned with the increase in the number of people who lose their lives during the golden hour-that is the first 60 minutes after a road crash.
He said the First Responders’ Course seeks to reduce the number of people who die due to ”delayed formal institutionalised medical care”.

”Besides the crash impact being the major cause of injury or death to people involved in crashes, another contributing factor of late has been failure by the First Responders to properly attend to the crash scene or render proper First Aid to the victims of road crash,” said Deputy Minister Sacco.

TSCZ board chairperson Mr Kura Sibanda said the training done by the First Aid Responders from Zaka and Mwenezi would be replicated in other parts of the country with the ultimate aim of improving road safety.
He said the training is also in sync with President Mnangagwa’s “Nyika Inovakwa Nevene Vayo” philosophy which exhorts Zimbabweans to be at the centre of providing solutions to the country’s problems.