The Association of Health Service Administrators Ghana (AHSAG), has tasked the various Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to prioritize the sustainability of the ambulances released into the health sector for proper health service delivery.
Government recently commissioned and distributed 307 ambulances it procured as part of the ‘One constituency, One ambulance’ initiative to help augment operations of the National Ambulance Service.
While the national executive council of the association is commending government for the move, it, however, wants operators of the various ambulances to be well equipped and catered for, in order to boost their morale.
Public Relations Officer for the AHSAG, Abulais Yaro Haruna told Citi News that regular maintenance checks among others will also ensure the sustainability of the ambulances.
“We noticed that as managers of our health systems, the challenges we have had over the years have actually been the way we manage these ambulances when they come into the country. We have had medical emergency technicians posted to the various MMDAs. Places for them to lodge are not available so they will have to commute from one place to another because we do not have ambulance stations in every metropolis. That is why we want the MMDAs to really facilitate this process by ensuring that there are ambulance stations in every district.”
Ambulance Service promises sustainability
The National Ambulance Service has lauded the decision to place the management of the newly dispatched 307 ambulances directly under the National Ambulance Service.
Its Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Ahmed Nuhu Zakariah said the service has enough infrastructure to make good use of the ambulances.
Prof. Zakariah said ambulance stations will be established in various communities and ambulances that will be placed there will serve both the community and health facilities.
“The advantage of placing these ambulances under the National Ambulance Service is that, we are going to establish ambulance stations within the communities and the advantage of doing this is that it serves both the community and the health facility so if you are in the community and you have a health emergency, it is only a matter of getting access to the ambulance.”
He, however, said an allocation will be made for first aid cover on the country’s major highways.
“We already have existing ambulance stations which are not necessarily by constituencies so obviously those will be part of them. Now, across the major highways, we have first-aid posts and definitely some of these ambulances are going to be there,” Prof. Zakariah said in a Citi News interview.
