Government procures new vehicles for Ambulance Service
The government is in the process of procuring a new fleet of ambulances for the Ghana National Ambulance Service to enhance and expand their emergency operations.
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They would replace the old ones which are nearing their lifespan and mileage-coverage of frontline emergency services.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in Accra last Friday, the Chief Executive Officer of the Service, Prof. Ahmed N. Zakariah, said the new ambulances would help increase efficiency, lower maintenance costs and provide more lifesaving opportunities.
Currently, the service has 161 ambulances, some of them just a year to hit their five-year life span.
The procurement of new ones would mean withdrawing the old ones for non-emergencies.
Expansion plan
Prof. Zakariah said even as the government moved to order new ambulances, sight must also not be lost of the fact that it was not all the time that the country could have that luxury of replacing all ambulances at a go.
Therefore, it would not be surprising to have the vehicles in the workshop at various periods of time.
Prof. Zachariah said the service was presently operating in 124 locations in the country with Ashanti Region being the biggest operational area, but was confident that more areas would be reached once new vehicles came in.
“We want to see every district getting at least five ambulances.
The expansion plan is to cover every district. When we started, the plan was for accident-prone districts but now every district deserves the service,“ he said.
Emergency training
Prof. Zachariah recommended training in emergency services for staff of the various hospitals in the country.
This, he explained, would enable them to respond positively to emergencies and thus help save lives.
He said his outfit organised one of such training programmes for the Legon Hospital last week at the request of the hospital management.
The training programme focussed on the very basic emergency skills that every staff needed in the management of the critically ill patient, he said.