The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, has lamented the increasing number of lives lost on Lagos roads due to delays caused by onlookers taking videos instead of helping first responders.
Abayomi stated this in Lagos during a symposium for stakeholders to mark the 2025 World Trauma Day with the theme, “Reducing Needless Deaths on Our Roads: Everybody’s Responsibility.”
Represented by the Director of Medical Services at the Lagos State Health Service Commission, Dr. Olawale Adegbite, Abayomi urged residents to respect ambulances and prioritize saving lives before recording accident scenes.
“Every time we block an ambulance or ignore an emergency call, someone’s parent, spouse, or child could be dying. Trauma care begins with public responsibility,” he said.
He reiterated the state government’s commitment to strengthening emergency preparedness and trauma response systems to reduce preventable deaths on Lagos roads.
According to him, most trauma cases on Lagos roads are preventable and often result from human error. He noted that the state’s pre-hospital and ambulance services have saved numerous lives but require continuous improvement and public cooperation.
Highlighting ongoing investments in emergency medicine, the commissioner said trauma cases handled by the Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS) have recorded higher survival rates compared to those transported by bystanders.
“Proper pre-hospital intervention makes the difference between life and death. Continuous staff training and retention are critical to sustaining success in trauma management,” he added.
In her opening remarks, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, Dr. Kemi Ogunyemi, described trauma as one of the leading causes of preventable deaths and disabilities globally, particularly from road crashes.
Represented by the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Health, Dr. Oluwatoni Adeyemi, Ogunyemi said Lagos had made significant progress under Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration, citing improvements in ambulance coverage, response times, and coordination among first responders.
“We recently launched ten emergency ambulance bikes to ensure faster access to victims in congested areas and commissioned modular high-dependency units in Ifako and Mushin General Hospitals,” she said.
She noted that reducing trauma-related deaths required the collective effort of all citizens — drivers, pedestrians, health professionals, civil society, and the media.
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye, recounted the story of “Mr. Andrew,” a trauma survivor treated at the Lagos State Accident and Emergency Centre (LASAEC), whose life was saved through a coordinated emergency response.
He said the state government was expanding trauma centres in Epe, Eti-Osa, and Badagry, in partnership with the private sector, including Custodian Allied Insurance and Access Bank.
“There’s hardly any equipment you’ll find in advanced ambulance systems that our units don’t have — ventilators, defibrillators, and fully trained emergency technicians. Lagos has come a long way,” Ogboye said.
He also called for attitudinal change among motorists, urging them to give ambulances the right of way.
“You move aside for convoys and security vehicles yet block ambulances carrying lives. That behavior must change. It could be your loved one in that ambulance,” he warned.
The Medical Director of LASAEC, Dr. Adeolu Arogundade, in a presentation titled “The Traumatic Story Being Rewritten,” shared the success story of Mr. Andrew, one of over 41,000 trauma cases treated at LASAEC in the past 15 years, with a mortality rate of just 1.4 percent.
He commended the Lagos State Government for sustaining its policy of providing free emergency care for all trauma victims within the first 24 hours, noting that timely funding remained vital for saving lives.
“Behind every statistic is a human story. Each percentage represents someone’s father, mother, or friend who lived because a system worked,” he said.
The Lagos Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Mr. Kehinde Hamzat, warned that most road crash deaths were avoidable, citing World Health Organization data that Africa bears a disproportionate share of the 1.3 million global road traffic deaths yearly.
Hamzat identified speeding, drunk driving, and disregard for traffic laws as major causes, stressing that effective trauma management begins with prevention.
“No matter how advanced our hospitals become, if we don’t change road behavior, we’ll keep losing lives needlessly,” he said.
At the end of the symposium, participants resolved to strengthen inter-agency collaboration, intensify public sensitization, and promote behavioral change campaigns across the state.
