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FIRST Quantum Minerals (FQM) Limited has embarked on a K660,000 worth training programme of local medical staff in cardiac life-saving skills.
FQM Government relations manager John Gladston said in a Press statement yesterday that the cardiac life-saving skills in which the firm was investing an equivalent of US$120,000 was to levels previously only available in South Africa.
FQM launched the training programme at Mary Begg Community Clinic in Ndola and it has since been certified as a continuous professional development course by the Health Professionals Council of Zambia.
With such recognition, all professional medical staff at the clinic should attain basic life support and international life support training as a minimum employment standard.
“Scores of local health professionals have now acquired cardiac life-saving skills to levels previously only available in South Africa on the entire continent,” Mr Gladston said.
“The investment has already paid off for a family that would have perished in a road accident had it not been for the presence of a Zambian nurse who had just graduated from the training that applies the course content of American Heart Association (AHA).”
With its headquarters in the United States, the AHA is a non-profit organisation that fosters appropriate cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability and deaths caused by cardiovascular disease and stroke.
Mr Gladston said the company’s investment in critical health sectors was of great significance and had a lasting impact on millions of lives in Zambia.
FQM has played a leading role in improving Zambia’s healthcare delivery, especially in its operational areas like North-Western Province where the company is revamping health centres, investing in training and conducting community mobilisation campaigns in HIV/AIDS, malaria and other primary health issues.
