Ghana: The Commissioning And Distribution Of 307 Ambulances

COMMENTARY ON THE COMMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION OF AMBULANCES TO ALL THE CONSTITUENCIES TO SUPPORT QUALITY HEALTHCARE SERVICES 

Even though Ghana is a developing country faced with a number of challenges as experienced in other countries, every effort is being made to improve socio-economic conditions in the country. This explains why the commissioning of the three hundred and seven ambulances for constituencies throughout the country is deemed important since it will help much in bringing great improvement in the healthcare system in the country.
The good thing about the just commissioned ambulances is that it is well equipped with gadgets and devices meant to monitor the health of patients being carried in between residential areas and health care centers. With each constituency being given an ambulance, accessibility to emergency healthcare services will be greatly enhanced to make health management systems meaningfully safe and reliable. It is not enough to have mere vehicles serving as ambulances to carry people on stretches from one location to the other for medical care. A well established national ambulance system should have vehicles that are well equipped and also have well trained paramedical personnel who will work hard to monitor the conditions of needy patients whose fate may be in danger. It is for this reason that quality training of paramedics who will operate on the ambulances is important. Again, the ambulances have been fitted with tracking devices provided by the suppliers to know and inform health care service authorities of the presence and location of each of the vehicles at any point in time. These are meant to boost the health care delivery system in the country. It is to ensure that all these conditions are satisfied that caused the delay in the distribution of the ambulances to the constituencies in the country.

What is worth doing must be done well so if the ambulances are well equipped and have effective tracking devices and also adequate emergency medical technician drivers, dispatchers and other support staff then it goes to show that the government knows what it is about as far as quality medical care is concerned.  One satisfying notable feature about the distribution of the ambulances is that apart from the commissioning, President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo agreed to involve all parliamentarians, that is, the majority and minority, in their distribution since the MPs represent their people in the country. Thus, even though the commissioning was done by the President, the people of Ghana, through their representatives in parliament, received them in a symbolic manner before they moved into the various constituencies.

Since the establishment of the National Ambulance Service by former President J.A Kuffour in 2004, not much attention has been paid to the operation of the ambulances in the country to make it as effectively operational as was originally intended. It is, therefore, heartwarming and encouraging that President Akufo-Addo, in line with his pre-election promise to improve the healthcare delivery system, has invested much financial resources to improve the situation in the health sector with regard to emergency medical care. At the end of it all, we expect the National Ambulance Service and all its supervising authorities to work hard and ensure that for many years to come, these ambulances will be well catered for, regularly serviced and maintained to continue with the delivery of quality healthcare service. This is what the nation expects to see in the delivery of quality health service especially in emergency situations throughout the country, all meant for the good of all.

BY: DR. KOFI AMPONSAH-BEDIAKO, DIRECTOR OF CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS, GHANA STANDARDS AUTHORITY.