Flying Doctors Host Workshop for Industry Safety Leaders

On the 14th of May, 2015, the FDN (De Flight Medics Ltd) team hosted a workshop for 60 company doctors, HSE professionals and safety leaders to discuss 'Emergency Medicine For Industry in Africa'


We have realized that there are very specific and unique challenges faced by industry in Africa, particularly in remote areas. These will be addressed in our white paper due for publication in the next few days. We will focus on the work of flying doctors and medevac medics in Africa.

Why is work in Africa different?

There are many factors that make working in industry in Africa unique due to it's remoteness and topographical challenges, some of these are listed below.

1. Emergency Services:  Many of the public emergency services such as fire fighting service, police, coast guard and ambulances may not work as effectively in Africa as they do in developed countries. Therefore many companies must make private provisions for these normally public services

2. Infectious Disease: The prevalence of infectious disease is higher in Africa than in many other countries. Therefore specific protocols must be developed by companies to mitigate against the effect of infectious diseases.

3. Medical Services: Many countries in Africa have weak healthcare infrastructure. In an emergency the distances that need to be traveled to reach definitive care are often far longer than in the West. Therefore, companies must think more carefully about how geography influences their emergency care plans.

There were three main topics addressed over the course of the workshop namely:  

1. A safer environment for the energy sector - The Proactive approach
2. Challenges of managing health in the Offshore/Remote site location in the Oil and Gas Industry - Recent Developments in Nigeria. 
3. Emergency Transport in Nigeria -Any hope for Nigeria.

Over the next few hours some of Nigeria's most prominent safety leaders debated these issues in small groups and then presented their results. The results of these discussions will be released over the next few days in our white paper titled 'Emergency Medicine for Industry in Africa'. It became very apparent that the Flying Doctors are a much needed and appreciated service.


Dr Olutomiwa Ogunbona