Eastern Region Ambulance Service gets Emergency Dispatch Centre

A refurbished Emergency Dispatch Centre (EDC) for the Ghana Ambulance Service in the Eastern Region has been inaugurated at Koforidua, the regional capital.

The $5.2 million centre is to help improve maternal and child health, as well as the sick and referral emergency cases.

The centre was provided by Hunger Project Ghana and funded by the Catholic Relief Service and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, with the support of the Ghana Ambulance Service and Ghana Health Service.

Central hub

The EDC located in Koforidua will serve as a central hub coordinating emergency responses by transporting patients in remote areas with bad roads on tricycles to ambulances stationed on nearby good roads to be sent to health facilities.

It is equipped with two giant TV monitors, one to keep information and to manage emergency communications and the other for tracking vehicles, smart mobile phones and five tricycles serving as ambulances for emergencies.

Tricycles

Each of the tricycles has already been sent to five municipal and district assemblies, including Asante Akim in the Ashanti Region, Kwahu East, Abuakwa South, Asuogyaman and Suhum, all in the Eastern Region.

The tricycles are to evacuate the sick and all related cases involving maternal and child health from places with bad roads making it difficult for ambulances to ply on.
Milestone

At a ceremony to officially inaugurate the centre last Friday, the Country Leader of Hunger Project Ghana, Agatha Quayson, said with the centre now fully operational, it had been a milestone to improve health care to enable rural communities to access it particularly with issues relating to maternal and child health, as well as the sick.

She stated that the main focus was to help reduce maternal and child mortality.

She indicated that although the centre had been set up for the Eastern Region Ambulance Service, it would also take care of the nearby Asante Akim Municipality in the Ashanti Region.

Ms Quayson said with the centre fully operational, deaths associated with pregnant women and their unborn babies, as well as adults, particularly in rural communities, would be prevented or drastically reduced.

"We are now equipping rural communities with necessary materials to deal with deaths that can be prevented, especially among pregnant women, their unborn babies and others.

She, on behalf of the Hunger Project Ghana, expressed appreciation to the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints for the support.

Rural emergency system

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Ambulance Service, Prof. Ahmed Nuhu Zakaria, who represented the Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, was happy that there had been improvement in the rural emergency system due to the support of organisations such as the Hunger Project Ghana, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and commended them for their support.

He added that Ghana had come a long way to institute a robust health system to deal with people in the rural communities.

Prof. Zakaria was happy that the ambulances, which hitherto would have been in the urban areas, were now operating in the rural areas with unmotorable roads.

That, he explained, was because the tricycles provided would convey those needing medical attention to be brought to the ambulance.

Transport challenge

The Deputy Eastern Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service, Dr John Ekow Otoo, who represented his boss, Dr Winfred Ofosu, said the Community Health Planning Services (CHPS) compounds in the region were facing transport challenges, therefore, the centre would help transport those needing urgent medical service from rural areas to appropriate health facilities.

Mr Otoo stated that last year, the region recorded 83 maternal deaths of which 70 per cent were referral cases to district hospitals and the regional hospital.

He further indicated that if the EDC had been operational during that year, such preventable deaths would not have occurred or would have been reduced.

Writer's email 
haruna.wunpini@graphic.com.gh