Senator wants designated lanes for Covid evacuation

Hillary Mageka @hillarymageka

Nominated Senator Imana Falhada Dekow wants the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) to temporarily designate special lanes on major roads and highways to ease emergency medical evacuation by ambulances during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a statement to the Senate on Thursday, Senator Falhada claims that although the Traffic Act provides for special treatment of ambulances when they are taking people to hospital motorists do not give way for the ambulances forcing them to maneuver traffic yet they are carrying critical patients who require urgent attention.

This habit she said is manifested in cities with high traffic levels, such as Nairobi, Kisumu, Nakuru and Mombasa.

The Traffic Act 403 Section 119 validates traffic Rule 83, which states that: “Drivers should give right of way upon hearing sirens indicating the approach of police vehicles, ambulances or fire engines.”

“We are in the middle of a pandemic and without a coordinated response to these incidents; there is a potential of unnecessary increase in morbidity and mortality.

“It is important that traffic police enforce traffic rules and ensure motorists who block ambulances are arrested,” she noted explaining that various hospitals have already raised an alarm over the lack of capacity to accommodate the rising Covid-19 patients in the wake of the second wave of Coronavirus.