MMDA needs more nurses, rescuers

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chair Francis Tolentino has invited graduates of nursing and other related courses to become paramedics and first-responders in the agency’s rescue group, which he said urgently needs additional people to deal with road accidents and other emergencies.

“Right now we are in immediate need of 12 nurses. Applicants need not have licenses as long as they are graduates of nursing, physical therapy and related medical degrees. We will provide them with training,” he said in an interview with reporters.

“Being a paramedic is a rewarding job. It will give them the opportunity to save lives and the chance to be in action 24/7,” Tolentino said.

Tolentino said the MMDA rescue unit lacked manpower after some members left for greener pastures.

The MMDA chair on Friday formally received two ambulances donated by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in Pasay City.

At the moment, he said, the MMDA had to make do with just five ambulances—one of them “aging”—and a few emergency vehicles.

The PCSO pledged to donate three more vehicles to the MMDA. Tolentino thanked PCSO Chair Margarita Juico and General Manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas II for giving his agency’s rescue unit a much needed boost.

Tolentino expressed alarm over the increasing number of road accidents recently. This week, at least five fatal accidents were reported to the MMDA, including one on Tuesday night on Quezon Avenue when a bus crashed into a concrete barrier, killing its conductor and injuring 13 passengers.

On Thursday, a speeding motorcycle ran over a pedestrian crossing Commonwealth Avenue also in Quezon City, he added.

“With so many road accidents happening at the same time, our resources are stretched to the limits. We need to have more manpower and equipment,” Tolentino said.