Chief of Staff receives locally made tricycle ambulance

The Chief of Staff at the Presidency, Mrs Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, yesterday received two Rural Motor King tricycle ambulances from LK International Company Ghana Limited as proof of the company’s production capacity.

The donation was the company’s symbolic appreciation of government’s support in enrolling it under the flagship One, district, One, factory (1D1F) programme.

Fabricated in Ghana, the tricycle ambulance is fitted with first aid box, collapsible stretcher, seats, lights, sirens and has double back tyres for stability.

The machines are to be transferred to rural communities, particularly difficult-to-access areas with such a need.

Receiving the ambulances, Mrs Osei-Opare said the government was working to ensure that no Ghanaian, irrespective of their socio-economic status and location, was left out in health and education.

She explained that it was for that reason that it instituted the Free SHS and One, ambulance, One, constituency programmes, while providing extra fleet for the Ghana Ambulance Service as back-up.

Agenda 111

Mrs Osei-Opare announced that all was set for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to break the ground for work to commence on the construction of 111 hospitals, code-named Agenda 111, across the country to make healthcare delivery available to all Ghanaians.

“We also recognise that one ambulance would not be enough [for a constituency] so this facility will also help to mop up the areas that are inaccessible. It can also be an intermediary for the ambulances,” Mrs Osei-Opare noted.

She said it was a good innovation from one of the 1D1F facilities that was creating jobs for the people in their localities and decreasing the rate at which people would move to the cities in search of jobs.

Mrs Osei-Opare said the vehicle would help to bring healthcare delivery closer to the vulnerable, especially pregnant women in labour who were sometimes transported in uncomfortable means.

She urged local assemblies, organisations and individuals to purchase and deploy such tricycles to particularly deprived areas to augment efforts to improve healthcare delivery.

Support

A Manager of LK International Ghana Limited, Ms Margaret Amaki Boni, said the donation was made to the 1D1F Secretariat under the Presidency for their support to the company, and noted that it was also to support government’s efforts at delivering quality health care to the public.

She said the ambulance was of exceptional difference and an innovative solution which was convenient and faster in saving lives in rural areas, especially in areas that were not easily accessible by the regular ambulance.

She said the machine, designed in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service and the Ghana Ambulance Service, could be used as a mobile pharmacy and clinic.