More than 16 individuals have lost their lives in a head-on collision between a Youtong bus and a fuel tanker at Gomoa Okyereko.
The cause of the accident is not readily known, but the rescue team from the Ghana National Fire Service is at the scene trying to rescue the mate of the tanker trapped in the vehicle.
Reports indicate that the bus was traveling from Abidjan to Buduburam while the tanker was filled with petrol, traveling from Accra heading towards Takoradi.
The Ghana Ambulance Service and the Police Service are also on-site, providing support and assistance alongside the GNFS.
Former Presidential Staffer,Stan Xoese Dogbe has provided evidence confirming the video’s claims, in contrast to a press release disputing the viral video’s claims that an ambulance owned by the government is being auctioned in Dubai.
The National Ambulance Service, in a release dated May 29, 2023, attempted to set the record straight regarding the viral video showing a government of Ghana-branded Toyota Hiace ambulance supposedly being sold in Dubai.
According to the service, “The ambulance in question is one of the 26 Toyota Hiace Ambulances being procured by the Government, through the Ministry of Health and funded by the World Bank.
“The said ambulance is located on the premises of the Company, which is manufacturing the ambulances. “It is therefore untrue that the ambulance is there for sale,” the service added. The service explained that the ambulances are awaiting shipment to Ghana after the completion of the manufacturing process.
However, in a Facebook post, Stan Dogbe shared a screenshot of a May 23, 2023, post by the manufacturing company SK Motors FZCO on Facebook, where the company was advertising the same ambulance for sale.
“SK Motors FZCO, the Dubai-based car dealer, whom the National Ambulance Serviceof the Republic of Ghana claimed in a statement on Monday to be the manufacturers of a set of ambulances being procured, had earlier on May 23, 2023, put up for sale on its Facebook page what it described as New Toyota Hiace GL 2024 Ambulances.
“The ambulance in the accompanying photo for the advert was none other than what appeared in an amateur video with the Republic of Ghana National Ambulance Service logo and details on them,” Stan Dogbe wrote.
He revealed that the company has since deleted the post following the statement released by the National Ambulance Service. He also pointed out that the company in question is a car dealership and not a manufacturer, as claimed by the service. “In an earlier PR statement regarding the viral video, the Service claimed that the ambulance is part of a fleet that has been procured and is due to be shipped to Ghana.
The Service also claimed that SK Motors FZCO is the manufacturer of the Toyota ambulance, a fact that I have challenged the Service to provide proof of. “SK Motors has this evening deleted the earlier Facebook advert of the GoG advert, but folks had saved the post before they were prompted to delete,” he said.
The former presidential staffer highlighted the contradictions in the statement and criticized the government’s attempts to dismiss the video as propaganda.
“Does the National Ambulance Service have more information to provide? “Government officials had earlier sought to deny the video, claiming it was just another propaganda against the government, before the Service embarrassed them with its faulty and deceptive PR goof,” Stan Dogbe added.
It has been reported that the Pru East constituency’s allocation of ambulance under the ‘One Constituency, One Ambulance’ initiative is seemingly missing. This revelation has raised significant questions and concerns about the whereabouts and management of the crucial emergency vehicle intended to serve the constituency.
This came to light when the Assemblyman for the Yeji Traditional Council Electoral Area, Godwin Awudi, raised the issue on the floor of their 25th ordinary meeting held on Thursday, May 25, 2023.
According to Godwin Awudi, his constituents raised the concern when he met them in his electoral area.
He said the people of Yeji have had to rely on the ambulance from Kwame Danso to transport emergency cases to either the Techiman Holy Family Hospital or the Okomfo Anokyi Teaching Hospital in Kumasi.
In an interview with Adom News Reporter Daniel Tachie, the Assemblyman asked the District Chief Executive and the Mathias Hospital administration to locate the vehicle or risk the wrath of the assembly.
Meanwhile, the Pru East DCE, Adams Abdulai, said he has not seen the ambulance for some time now, and his checks show that it has developed a fault and is currently at a workshop for maintenance.
Speaking to Adom News’ Daniel Tachie, he used the opportunity to plead with the National Ambulance Service to expedite the maintenance of the car to help it serve its purpose for the constituents.
Some of the residents also expressed their worries about the absence of the ambulance car and how it affects healthcare delivery in the area.
As a result of defective injectors, the government’s One-Constituency-One-Ambulance program’s supplied ambulance to the Pru East area in the Bono East Region has been grounded.
The ambulance hasn’t operated in the past four months, according to reporter Twum Barimah of Accra 100.5 FM.
The ambulance could not be taken to Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti region, for service due to the malfunctioning injectors, he explained to Odehyeeba Kofi Essuman, the host of the Ghana Yensom morning show.
According to him, given the circumstances, patients must pay close to GHC 1,700 to GHC 2,000 for the services of an ambulance.
He said the situation has been a source of worry to some well-meaning people in the district.
Alhaji Adams Abdullai, the Municipal Chief Executive of Pru East District Assembly, confirmed that the vehicle had been faulty.
He said the vehicle is grounded because parts for fixing it are unavailable.
“The officer in charge at Yeji has given the assurance that an order has been placed for the parts,” he added.
He said the Assembly is planning to have the vehicle fixed by the end of the month to help save the situation.
He added that the Assembly will take steps to have the vehicle fixed by early next week if the parts from the workshop of the National Ambulance Service delays.
Swansea has declared a serious incident after a suspected gas explosion severely leveled a house and most of the nearby property.
A “big blast” was heard by locals near Clydach Road, on the outskirts of the city, just after 11 a.m. on Monday.
Those living a mile away claimed the explosion “shook the home” and rattled their windows, and an onslaught of tweets stated the boom could be heard at least eight miles distant.
Fire crews from five different stations were scrambled to the scene and several people reported seeing an air ambulance in attendance.
One local said the bang ‘shook the house and was heard miles away.Before-and-after photos suggest the blast destroyed two homes and damaged at least two more
The blast also appears to have blown out several windows and burned exterior fixtures on at least two more surrounding buildings.
Emergency services warned people to ‘avoid the area’ as the incident was still ‘ongoing’ at midday on Monday.
The sound was heard across a mile-wide radius, according to tweets from people claiming to live in the area.
Emma Kavanagh wrote: ‘Felt like the last earthquake we had. I thought our chimney had come down!’
A spokesperson for Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service told Metro.co.uk: ‘At 11.20am on Monday, March 13th, crews from Morriston, Swansea West, Neath, Gorseinon and Port Talbot were called to an incident in Morriston following several reports of a gas explosion.
‘As well as Fire and Rescue Service Crews, South Wales Police and the Welsh Ambulance Service are in attendance.
Residents across Swansea’s Morriston area reported hearing a ‘loud bang’ (Picture: Wales News Service)Roads feeding into the scene of the incident were soon swarming with emergency vehicles (Picture: Media Wales)
‘South Wales Police have declared a major incident, no further information is available at this time. For more information, please contact South Wales Police.’
Leader of Swansea Council Rob Stewart said: ‘A major incident has been declared after a suspected gas explosion in Morriston. Emergency teams are responding.
‘It is not known at this time if there are any injuries or fatalities or individuals trapped in the rubble.
A mother has died after waiting for nearly two hours for an ambulance, after complaining about severe pain and shortness of breath, before her heartbroken nine-year-old daughter spent hours trying to wake her up.
Victoria Louisa Maame Yamphet, 40, died in her home in Dagenham, east London, last week, in front of her terrified daughters aged 9 and 18.
Her daughter Emmanuela, 18, said her mother came home with a flu on Sunday, January 8, and rapidly declined.
She said: ‘My mum complained about her ribs and belly hurting. I offered to call an ambulance because she isn’t really a sick person and I knew it was bad.’
During the night, Maame, as she was referred to by friends and family, got more severe and at 6.09am on Tuesday, January 10, her daughter called for an ambulance.
She was initially told the ambulance was six to ten minutes away, but 20 minutes later there was still no ambulance, despite the ambulance strike only happening the next day.
‘I called again and all of a sudden it was an hour wait’, she said.
‘I told them my mum can’t wait that long. I was in distress because I didn’t know what to do.’
She was told at 7.15am that a taxi would be send to her house to take her mother to the hospital.
However, the taxi didn’t reach them in time: ‘Before the taxi got to us, her pain got worse. She just stopped breathing in front of me and my little sister.
‘I put her in a recovery position, I did CPR on her. I called the ambulance screaming and crying for them to get here quicker.
‘They literally got here within a minute, and it made me feel like when I really need them to come, they can, but they didn’t until I started screaming and crying.
‘When they came, they did everything they could but it was a bit too late. Because my mother was left for an hour and 45 minutes to be in pain, sadly … she didn’t make it.
‘She suffered from cardiac arrest due to her not being able to breathe properly.’
Maame, the name she went by, worked as a support worker for over 20 years. Her daughter said: ‘It’s very unfair. My mum was a support worker, she always looked after people, but when it was her turn, she wasn’t taken care of.’
The young woman said on top of her disappointment in the ambulance service, she was very distressed when her mother’s body was left at the house with her and her nine-year-old sister Emily for six hours.
She said: ‘My little sister was on the floor next to our mum the whole time. She was crying, shaking her and trying to wake her up.’
Their father, who works in the NHS, rushed home to his partner and children and when he was told his partner ‘didn’t make it, he literally started breaking down’, his daughter said.
Maame’s daughters, who are both receiving councelling via their schools, are currently staying with their aunt Sally Andrews in south London as she doesn’t want her nieces to stay where their mother died. Maame’s death comes as ambulance services have just announced further walkouts in February that are due to bring futher chaos amid the recent outrage over long NHS waiting times.
Dr Fenella Wrigley, Chief Medical Officer for London Ambulance Service, said:
‘We are deeply sorry for the delay in responding to Mrs Yamphet.
‘We are investigating our response to this 999 call and the care provided, and as part of this thorough review, will contact Mrs Yamphet’s family to understand the circumstances of this incident.
‘On behalf of London Ambulance Service, I offer my sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of Mrs Yamphet.’
The cause of Mrs Yamphet’s death is yet to be determined. In the meantime, her daugher Emmanuela has set up a fundraising page for her mother’s funeral: ‘We want to give her a befitting burial’, she said.
Following a vote by members to reject a 4% pay offer because they believed it represented a “massive real terms pay cut,” GMB union bosses claimed that the government’s “cold dead hands” were preventing the creation of a proper pay offer.
Six additional strike dates have been set by ambulance workers as their ongoing dispute over pay, jobs, and working conditions.
On February 6 and 20, as well as March 6 and 20, more than 10,000 GMB union members who work as paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers, and other ambulance staff at eight NHS trusts are planning to strike.
Workers at West Midlands ambulance service will also strike on 23 January and North West Ambulance Service will walk out on 24 January.
The dates have been announced after talks with the government broke down, with the union saying their members are “angry” and “are done”.
GMB union members voted against the government’s 4% pay rise, saying it was “another massive real terms pay cut”.
Rachel Harrison, GMB national secretary, said: “Our message to the government is clear – talk pay now.
“Ministers have made things worse by demonising the ambulance workers who provided life and limb cover on strike days – playing political games with their scaremongering.
“The only way to solve this dispute is a proper pay offer. But it seems the cold, dead hands of Number 10 and 11 Downing Street are stopping this from happening.
“In the face of government inaction, we are left with no choice but industrial action.
“GMB ambulance workers are determined, they’re not going to back down. It’s up to this government to get serious on pay. We are waiting.”
The ambulance services that workers will be walking out in February and March from are: South West, South East, North West, South Central, North East, East Midlands, Welsh, and Yorkshire.
Unite, which represents 100,000 NHS workers, said its ambulance committee is meeting later on Wednesday to set new strike dates that will then be put to members to confirm.
With new NHS data showing a record number of ambulances were delayed dropping off patients at A&E in England, the extent of the gridlock in hospitals over Christmas has been made public.
In the week leading up to New Year’s Day, more than 40% of crews were required to wait longer than 30 minutes to deliver their patients to hospital staff.
It is the highest recorded value.
However, with the flu and Covid admissions declining last week, there is hope that pressures may soon start to ease.
Both had been rising sharply in previous weeks, with one in seven beds occupied by patients with these infections by the start of the year.
The rate of flu admissions fell the most, dropping by more than 40%.
But the UK Health Security Agency is warning it is too early to say whether the flu season – the worst in a decade – has peaked as reporting lags over the festive period may have had an impact on the data.
The high levels of flu coupled with rising rates of Covid are thought to be one of the factors in the high number of deaths being reported.
In the lead up to Christmas, deaths were a fifth higher than normal, data from the Office for National Statistics shows.
NHS national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said: “We knew this winter would be one of the most difficult in the history of the NHS and I want to thank staff for all their hard work in caring for and treating so many patients while dealing with record demand on services, including the enormous pressure from flu and Covid.”
Ministers argue that it makes sense to ask adults to wear masks when they have a respiratory infection and must venture outside.
Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, stated that he fully supported the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) recommendations.
The UKHSA reiterated the guidance, which has been in effect in England for months, as businesses and educational institutions reopened after the Christmas holiday.
It happens as pressure on the NHS is increasing, which is in part due to high rates of the flu and cholera.
Mr Harper said he recognised staff were under “tremendous pressure” and the government had offered more resources to the NHS and social care to help services cope.
This includes a £500m winter fund targeted at helping hospitals discharge patients who are medically fit to leave but cannot because of a lack of support available in the community.
“I hope these resources are going to help in the coming months to relieve some of the pressure on our hard-worked health and care staff,” Mr Harper said
It was “sensible” to ask ill adults to wear masks if needed to go out, he said, but best to stay home if possible.
The UKHSA has also asked parents to keep children off school if they have a fever.
There have been sharp rises in the numbers of people in hospital with Covid and flu in recent weeks – about one in eight beds inEngland is now occupied by patients with these infections.
Senior doctors have described the NHS as on a knife edge, with some accident and emergency units in a “complete state of crisis”.
In recent days, a number of hospitals have declared critical incidents, suggesting they cannot function as usual because of extraordinary pressure.
‘I had to sleep in my car while waiting for an emergency op’
Having gone to A&E with stomach pain, Michael Woodcock, from Harrogate, was told he needed an emergency operation because his appendix was at risk of bursting.
It was late at night and he was booked in for surgery the following day – but with no beds available, asked nurses whether he could sleep in his car rather than a waiting-room chair.
“I ended up getting some blankets from the nurses and sleeping in the car for a few hours and then heading back into the hospital in the morning for the operation,” Mr Woodcock said.
Labour criticised the government’s management of the health service, while the Liberal Democrats called for Parliament to be recalled early.
MPs are due back at Westminster next Monday, following their Christmas break.
Prof Phil Banfield, who chairs theBritish Medical Association, which represents doctors, called on the government to “step up and take immediate action”.
The situation was “intolerable and unsustainable”, he said, with the NHS’s survival on a knife edge and patients needlessly dying because of a political choice.
Richard Webber, of the College of Paramedics, said the current situation was the worst in his 30-year career.
Delays were causing patients “significant harm”, he said, with ambulance services now struggling to find available crews for cardiac arrests – the highest category of emergency call.
“I’ve never known anything like it,” Mr Webber said.
Workers across the ambulance services and some NHS trusts have voted to take industrial action over the government’s 4% pay award, which the GMB has described as another “massive real-terms pay cut”.
More than 10,000 ambulance workers have voted to strike in England and Wales, the GMB union has announced.
It said: “No one in the health service takes strike action lightly – today shows just how desperate they are.”
Paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers and other staff are set to walk out in nine trusts:
South West Ambulance Service
South East Coast Ambulance Service
North West Ambulance Service
South Central Ambulance Service
North East Ambulance Service
East Midlands Ambulance Service
West Midlands Ambulance Service
Welsh Ambulance Service
Yorkshire Ambulance Service
The industrial action is set to take place before Christmas, with the union planning to meet reps in the coming days to discuss potential dates.
The GMB said workers across the ambulance services and some NHS trusts have voted to strike over the government’s 4% pay award, which it described as another “massive real-terms pay cut”.
“Ambulance workers – like other NHS workers – are on their knees,” said the union’s national secretary, Rachel Harrison.
“Demoralised and downtrodden, they’ve faced 12 years of Conservative cuts to the service and their pay packets, fought on the front line of a global pandemic and now face the worst cost of living crisis in a generation.”
What other strikes are due to take place?
The strike comes after the UK’s biggest trade union, Unison, announcedthousands of its ambulance workers in England also intend to take industrial action before Christmas.
Up to 100,000 nurses from the Royal College of Nursing are also set to stage a mass walkout in December – one of the busiest months for the NHS.
Thearmy has already been placed on stand by in case it is needed to fill the roles of NHS workers while strikes are taking place.
Several strikes are also taking place across other sectors, with Eurostar security staff announcing earlier on Wednesday that they will be taking part in a walkout next month in a dispute over pay.
Gauteng province health department has indicated that , a South African mob attacked and killed a patient in an ambulance on suspicion of committing a crime.
The mob also assaulted paramedics who were treating the patient in the Atteridgeville area, causing damage to the ambulance.
After the man was injured in a mob attack, paramedics responded to calls for help. They began treatment on the scene and prepared to transport the patient to the nearest hospital.
“As the ambulance was getting ready to leave the scene, community members started throwing stones and barricaded the road to prevent the ambulance leaving… they demanded justice on the spot,” the health department said in a statement.
It added: “Unfortunately the patient was further fatally assaulted while on an ambulance stretcher. The ambulance was extensively damaged and medical equipment was stolen.”
Dancehall musician,Stonebwoy, has expressed his opinion following the horrific shooting and fire incident that occurred in Dzorwulu on Monday, October 24, 2022.
Earlier in a viral video, an unidentified driver of a V8 vehicle was allegedly shot by unknown assailants while his car was set on fire.
Although it is unclear what caused the incident, it reportedly stemmed from a land dispute.
Interestingly at the scene, an eyewitness was captured busy running a commentary in a 33-seconds video.
The said commentator was heard asking for help for the victim while exclaiming that he is not dead.
But reacting to this incident which has since sparked public interest, Stonebwoyappears peeved about the fact that people were more interested in recording the incident than rendering help to the victim.
“I saw a video of a man laying hurt on the floor in Dzorwulu. A residential area with his V8 bumped/crashed into all these while there was this man filming him shouting, he is not dead ooo. With other passerby also filming until the car caught fire. This man started shouting…we need fire Ghana fire service oo. Please fire service come o. and so on and so forth. Like I am so disappointed in some of us. Our smart phones have sucked out common sense,” he wrote on social media.
“He could have called an ambulance or fire service. Anyways realizing how long it takes for both to show up. How about quickly arranging for a taxi to carry this man to the hospital to save his life. I see many of us interested in filming the incidences that happen in order to post instead of actually saving the situation then dealing with the extras later. We can surely do better. Pls let’s try,” he added.
The Wa Regional Hospital has received a completely furnished ambulance that was sponsored by the Upper West Region residents and presented by the speaker of parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Bagbin.
Even though the speaker gave the elephant side contributions, he thanked all participants who thought the initiative was excellent and urged them to keep up the fight for the region’s speedy development, which has been regarded as one of Ghana’s poorest regions.
Presenting the ambulance, Rt. Hon. Sumana said the donation was a demonstration of the power and impact of commitment and community involvement in improving living conditions, and in achieving what once was thought of as a distant possibility
“…Today’s event is a manifestation of what we can do as individuals and as members of the community to improve upon our livelihoods”, he said.
Rt. Hon Sumana Bagbin said the provision of this ambulance goes to augment the existing health delivery systems within the community.
He added that even though the ambulance alone cannot meet all the pre-hospital healthcare needs of the community, it responds to a very critical need.
He continued that “We must ensure that measures are implemented to integrate the ambulance services into the community healthcare processes…I also recommend to managers of the ambulance service to ensure the judicious use of the ambulance.
The Speaker entreated the hospital to maintain the ambulance while he proposed that there should be a policy or guidelines for the use of the ambulance, and adequate training of personnel to operate the ambulance to ensure quality standards and improvement.
He further added that fortunately, there exist several known state and private institutions to provide the hospital with the needed guidance, the National Ambulance Service, the Wa Teaching Hospital, and the private ambulance services are about a few of these institutions that, with good collaboration, could offer significant benefits for managing the ambulance.
A tricycle rider has met his untimely death following a collission with an ambulance in Koforidua in the Eastern Region.
According to reports, the New Juaben North constituency embossed ambulance was en route to St. Joseph hospital to pick up an emergency case to Accra when the unfortunate incident occurred.
Sources say the tricycle rider recklessly crossed the ambulance driver while other cars had given way to the ambulance resulting in a side-impact collision.
The impact of the crash ejected the rider and a passenger aboard the tricycle on the road under the ambulance which crushed them.
The victims were removed into the accident ambulance and were rushed to the hospital but the rider died shortly after arrival.
The injured passenger is however responding to treatment.
Personnel from the motor traffic and transport department of the Police visited the scene and after taking inventories towed the Pragya tricycle to the Regional Police Headquarters for further investigation.
The family of the deceased in Accra has been informed.
The Eastern Regional Director of the Ghana Ambulance Service, Michael Gaani told Starr News “It happened Friday, September 23, 2022. The ambulance was going for an emergency to Accra for a CT scan. So other cars stopped giving him the way and this rider thought he could be fast and go. So the Pragya grazed the side of the ambulance and it hit him on the chest. So he died.”
Michael Gaani, a driver of an ambulance vehicle in the region lamented how drivers are facing serious obstruction from facing reckless riding of tricycle riders in parts of the region.
“On Tuesday one of the Pragya hit the back of our ambulance at Aburi and destroyed all the lights. They are crashing our ambulances and killing themselves. The riders do not know the regulations on the road and they are just riding anyhow”.
The National Ambulance Service (NAS) of the Ministry of Health says its preliminary investigation into an incident where an ambulance belonging to the service was used for the purchase and transportation of bags of cement reveals that the act was done by a mechanic working on the vehicle.
A viral video shows a seemingly new ambulance under the one Constituency one Ambulance initiative by the government stationed at Sege was being loaded with bags of cement by some young men.
This act received a lot of backlash on social media with the service being criticized for what is being described as negligence.
But according to the service, the incident which has been captured in a viral video occurred on or around March 26, 2021, while the vehicle with registration number GV 537-20 was in the custody of the suppliers, Service Ghana Autogroup Ltd.
The NAS explained in a statement copied to GhanaWeb that the vehicle was one of the Ambulances being fixed for minor faults by the supplier before it will be received and integrated into the National Ambulance Service fleet.
“The said suppliers had caused the Ambulance to be sent to its garage to address a minor fault. The National Ambulance Service had earlier declined to take custody of the vehicle because of the said fault.
“A mechanic of the said garage (Nana Ofosu Gear Box specialist) after the repairs, drove the ambulance toward the Mallam-Kasoa-Winneba Road on a test drive and during the process employed the vehicle for his private purposes,†the statement signed by Simmons Yussif Kewura, Head, Public Relations, explained further.
The NAS concluded that “the ambulance is still in the custody of Service Ghana Autogroup Ltd and therefore not being used by the paramedics of the National Ambulance Service. It is thus, not part of the National Ambulance Service fleet.â€
The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) in the Bono region has decried the abuse of its emergency telephone lines by the general public.
The Regional Commander, DCFO Heroine Sekyere Boakye, has revealed that her outfit receives many pranks calls.
According to DCFO Heroine Boakye, the practice has become a major challenge affecting their operations in their quest to fight fire outbreaks in the region.
She disclosed that because of their preparedness and willingness to serve the public, fire personnel are immediately deployed to supposed disaster zones when they receive emergency calls but some of these calls turn out to be prank calls.
Describing it as worrying, she said that her men only get to the ground before realising that they have been misled or tricked.
The situation the commander avers is affecting their operations as it takes a lot of resources to move the fire tender on trips.
“One major challenge we are facing is prank calls from the public. It is really affecting our operations as movements of the fire tenders to suppose disaster scenes come at a greater cost. When this happens it affects the morale of the personnel.â€
She revealed that placing pranks calls to the emergency unit affects their work as they are unable to attend to actual disaster scenes on time.
“The other danger is that someone in dire need of our service may be deprived access to us because of the irresponsibility on the part of some individuals.â€
She urged the public to desist from such practices as it is not in the interest of the public.
Youth in Yapei in the Central Gonja District of the Savannah Region have given a three-day ultimatum to some seven newly posted staff of the Ghana Ambulance Service to return their new ambulance under the one constituency, one ambulance program, start work in the district or face their wrath.
The ultimatum, which is being led by the Assemblymember for Yapei Electoral Area, Iddi Kamel, starts from Saturday, March 7 to Monday, March 9, 2020.
In an interview with JoyNews’ Savannah Regional correspondent, Isaac Nongya at Yapei, the youth said the behaviour of the ambulance service staff was unacceptable.
They accused the staff of making unreasonable demands including asking for a seven-bedroom apartment and an office accommodation before reporting to the district with the ambulance to work.
They tell JoyNews, in spite of the difficulties, the community has managed to secure a three-unit bedroom self-contained quarters for three staff and a temporal office but the staff remain adamant to come and render service to the people.
“We are very disappointed in the ambulance service because we have made everything possible for them to resume work here but unfortunately since they reported they haven’t returned to post. we want to make this very clear to them that whatever we have done is enough. by Monday if we don’t see the ambulance here we are going to storm the district office,” Iddi Kamel, the Assemblyman for Yapei Electoral Area said.
Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports indicate the decision by the ambulance service staff is backed by the Savannah Regional Director of the Ghana Ambulance Services.
According to sources, the Director is concerned about the working conditions of his staff and has refused to allow them work within a community that has not provided all their basic needs.
But attempts by JoyNews to reach out to the Savannah Regional Director for the Ghana Ambulance Services for his comment have proved futile.
The Western Region Dispatch Center of the Ghana Ambulance Service has, so far, recorded 40 calls since the arrival of the constituency ambulances.
Out of the number, five of them were prank calls.
According to the Regional Administrator of the Ghana Ambulance Service, Frank Manu, majority of the emergency calls came from the district hospitals.
“In actual sense because of the five prank calls, we have been able to effectively respond to 35 cases. They included inter-hospital transfers which are in the majority, domestic and Road Traffic Accidents,†Mr Manu explained.
“Three are Road Traffic Accidents and about five from domestic. The inter-hospital transfers are cases at the hospitals, which have been referred to another high level of care. The domestic calls are calls from individual homes and the Road Traffic Accidents are calls from road accident scenes.â€
He stated that a good number of the calls came from the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis.
“The latest was a Road Traffic Accident call which came from Daboase. The people are patronizing the service and as and when they call, we quickly respond.â€
Mr. Frank Manu observed that regrettably, some drivers fail to give them way even when the siren is blaring.
“Sometimes the driver will have to keep blaring the siren for a while before vehicles in front of it will give way. We hear that according to some of the drivers, they think that even when there is no patient we put on the siren. It is never the case. We only put on the siren when there is a patient in the ambulance and we are very strict on that.â€
He, therefore, pleaded with the various transport unions to speak to their members to immediately give way to the ambulance when they hear the siren, stressing that “it could be your relative that is in the ambulance unbeknownst to you, and any unnecessary delay may cause a problemâ€.
When asked whether the public are required to pay for the service, Mr. Manu said the payment may depend on the particular service being offered.
“Our core mandate is road accidents, child and industrial emergencies. But when it comes to the inter-hospital transfers where the patient is already paying for his or her service at the hospital and it becomes necessary for him or her to be transferred to a higher level, we appeal and I must stress we appeal to the relatives to assist us with fuel. With real emergencies especially child emergencies just last week we transferred a day old baby from Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital to Korle Bu and we took nothing from the family.â€
Musician turned political activist Kwame Asare Obeng aka A Plus has made a formal request to the Special Development Initiative Minister, Hawa Koomson, requesting information on the recently purchased and distributed 307 ambulances by the Akufo-Addo government.
A Plus, acting through his lawyer Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, is asking for direct information on the procurement process used for the purchase of the ambulances.
“We write to request for information in relation to the purchase and insurance of the 307 ambulances purchased by the Government of Ghana through your Ministry.
“Our client has directed us to request as follows:
1. What was the procurement process used in procuring the 307 ambulances.
2. If the government resorted to single-source tendering, we would like to request for a copy of the approval from the Public Procurement Board pursuant to section 40(2) of the Public Procurement Act, 2003, Act 663 and also the bid tendered in by the company.
3. If the government resorted to sole-sourcing, we would also like to know the company which won the contract.â€
Musician turned political activist Kwame Asare Obeng popularly known as A-Plus has formerly written to the Special Initiative ministry requesting information on the recently purchased and distributed 375 ambulances by the Akufo-Addo government.
A Plus, acting through his lawyer Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, is asking for direct information on the procurement process used for the purchase of the ambulances.
The development comes in the wake of the decision of the electoral commission to turn down a request by Ashaiman MP Ernest Norgbe who was demanding information on their procurement processes.
The legislature wantd to know the processes the Commission adopted prior to contracting the services of Dr. Ofori-Adjei, IT Consultant and Mr. A. Akrofi, Procurement Consultant; and whether the said procurement was done in accordance with Part 6 of the Public Procurement Act.
In a letter addressed to lawyer for the MP Martin Kpebu, the EC said the MP has not paid the necessary charges under the Right to Information law to enable him have access to the Information required.
Emergency Technicians at the National Ambulance Service Dispatch Centre have bemoaned the rate at which some individuals deliberately interrupt their work with prank calls.
Matilda Nartey, Head of Dispatch at the centre, in an interview with Citi FM, an Accra-based private radio station, recently revealed that her outfit records as high as over 200 prank calls in an hour, a situation she described as worrying.
“Prank calls are giving us a very big problem. It is making our work very difficult. Prank callers are just engaging the line to prevent genuine cases from getting to us. Ever since the 112 was launched, within an hour we received more than 200 prank calls,” she lamented.
“Some call just to insult, and some even call to demand money. We’ve been writing all the numbers that have been calling for us to give it to the telecos, and also to report to the police. If it will be possible, the individuals behind that could be prosecuted,” she added.
The Chronicle fully supports the resolve by the National Ambulance Service Dispatch Centre to report these prank callers to the police for the necessary action to be taken.
Ambulance services all over the world are considered an emergency, but if some unscrupulous people are refusing to fall in line, then the laws of the land must deal severely with these people we consider as nation wreckers.
The Chronicle is happy that the system can record numbers that call the emergency line – 112. We are equally happy that these numbers that called the call centre to deceive the staff were all recorded.
As Matilda Nartey noted during the interview with the radio station, the numbers should quickly be supplied to the telecos for the latter to reveal the identity of their owners for the law to deal with them.
The authorities must crack down heavily on these prank callers before they destroy the service, which has come to boost health delivery in the country. Within the short period that the ambulance services have been in place, several lives that would have been lost have been saved. This means we need to sustain the service to help save more lives, especially in the rural areas where access to vehicles and proper health delivery sometimes a challenge.
We, the media, must also take it upon ourselves, or as part of our corporate social responsibility, to educate the public about the dangers of making prank calls to the Ambulance Service call centre.
If we do this, and the police and telecos also play their roles, the problem would be solved, but if we sit idle, the nation wreckers would succeed in destroying the country.
The Ambulances distributed by President Nana Akufo Addo under the One Constituency , One Ambulance initiative has responded rapidly as expected to an accident scene in Walewale of the North -East Region.
A Kumasi bound OA bus has been involved in an accident on the Tamale-Bolgatanga Highway.
The bus with registration number GT-4504-16 collided head-on with a Burkinabe registered 11 KL 8924-BF Fuel Tanker.
The accident occurred at Gbemsi a village under Walewale in the North East region.
The cause of the accident is yet to be ascertained officially by road safety officials though ,they have since visited the scene to launch investigations.
But a passenger who spoke to A1 News on condition of anonymity said ,the OA Bus Driver was speeding on the potholes ridden road and failed breaks leading to the crash after it veered off its lane toward the fuel Tanker.
However , no injury has been recorded. Meanwhile, the newly distributed Ambulance was moved to the scene with some paramedics when it got hint of the accident to attend to any injury.
The National Ambulance Service and the Minister of Health, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu have urged the President, Nana Akufo-Addo to delay the intended distribution of some 275 ambulances to each of the constituencies in Ghana.
The President had indicated in a press encounter in 2019 that the ambulances would be distributed on January 6, 2020, after the total number that has been procured arrived in the country.
But in a letter to the President, the Health Minister supported the request by the National Ambulance Service for the process to be delayed further due to some stated reasons.
According to the National Ambulance Service dated 31 December 2019, some technical issues must be completed to ensure efficient operation of the ambulances have not been completed, hence the request to suspend the proposed distribution date.
The Ambulance Service also added that training of people who will operate the ambulance are yet to be done hence the need to hold on with the distribution.
Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bswumia has revealed that all the 275 ambulances imported by the Akufo-Addo administration will be digitised.
He explained that through the digitalisation, all the ambulances that will be distributed on 6 January 2020, will be tracked and monitored in order to know where and how they are being used.
Dr Bawumia made this known during the National Delegates Conference of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) at the Fantasy Dome, Trade Fair, Accra, on Sunday, 22 December 2019.
Some 179 more ambulances ordered by the Akufo-Addo administration arrived at the Tema Port on Tuesday, 17 December 2019.
This means all the over 300 ambulances are in and set for distribution in January as promised by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo during his press encounter on 13 December 2019.
The government suffered an avalanche of flak from some Ghanaians on social for failing to distribute the earlier batches of ambulances that came in so as to save lives.
Mr Akufo-Addo, during the encounter, justified why 96 of the ambulances were currently parked at the State House.
“The Minister for Special Development Initiative told me some of the ambulances were in and asked if she should distribute them and I said no; she shouldn’t. She should wait for the others to come in so that we can distribute all at the same time…
“Fortunately for us all of them will be in by the end of this month and on the 6th of January, I will commission them and the distribution will take place simultaneously and nobody will accuse me of favouritism, and so on.
“There is no justification on they being parked but if I was to send it here and not here, I think you know the kind of discourse that will come,” he stated.
At least eleven passengers including students going on vacation are fighting for their lives at Atua Government Hospital and St.Martins Depore Hospital in Odumase after a vehicle they were on board was involved in a near-fatal accident.
The absence of functioning ambulance in the entire Lower Manya Krobo Municipality worsened the health conditions of the victims rescued from the vehicle which had landed in a ditch. The injured victims were parked in pickup vehicle and Taxis to the respective Hospitals without any emergency first aid care.
The accident vehicle Toyota Hiace with registration Number GR 9332 Z onboard with 15 passengers was from Kumasi heading towards Ho in the Volta Region on Friday around 5:30pm.
According to 47-year-old victim, Kojo Aboagye, the vehicle stalled while descending the sharp curve to the notorious Asitey junction stretch of the Odumase to Otorkpolu Highway, the driver lost control of the steering wheel and run into the ditch.
It took the efforts of locals who were later joined by the Police to rescue the passengers trapped in the vehicle with serious injuries.
Eleven( 11 ) victims including students are receiving treatment the St. Martins De Pores Hospital, the remaining 4 are at the emergency unit of the Atua Government Hospitals.
The lack of functioning ambulances in the entire Krobo enclave is a worry to residents.
Meanwhile, there is an increasing public outcry against Government to release the first batch of 96 ambulances parked at the State House in Accra for months awaiting the arrival of 176 others before distribution to all 275 constituencies for political expediency.
Whereas the Minister for Special Initiatives and Development claims the ambulances are waiting to be installed with trackers before distribution, President Akufo Addo at a recent media encounter said he halted the distribution to ensure the arrival of the rest of the fleet for even distribution to avoid accusation of discrimination.
Th Eastern region is notorious for high rate of road accidents. A total of 722 accident cases were recorded in the region from January to October this year. Out of this 1062 were as a result of vehicle crashes, 188 knockdowns, 228 were reported dead with 1,288 injuries.
Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has asked Ghanaians to exercise patience in the distribution of the 307 ambulances procured by government under its $1m per constituency policy.
Already, government has taken delivery of 98 of the 307 ambulances which Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, while presenting the 2020 Budget Statement and Economic Policy in Parliament on Wednesday indicated would be distributed to the various districts nationwide.
But Mr. Agyeman-Manu in an interview with DGN Online on the sidelines of the inauguration of the “ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital†in Accra, disclosed that the distribution of the ambulances will start when the full complement have been received.
“Ghanaians should exercise a little patience. We are still receiving them in batches so we may have to hesitate a little in the distribution but in case of any emergency, we will be able to deploy to save the situation.â€
Although the sector minister did not give the timelines to when the expected ambulances will arrive in the country, he said, “We expect to have the full complement soon, have the President commission, them then we can start distribution.â€
Currently, Ghana can boast of only 55 ambulances, most of which are in poor conditions.
The National Ambulance Service (NAS) in a recent media interview pleaded with government to distribute the ambulances that had arrived in the country to augment the present fleet.
“We do not know when we will take delivery of them. We understand they are coming in batches so I do not know when it will be handed over to us, but if government says because of the inadequate ambulances we have now, they will give them to us as they come in, we will be happy to work with them.â€
“As at now, we have 55 weak ambulances nationwide which are over stressed and some in poor conditions and have to be serviced time and again, which means that at a point in time less than the number we have can perform emergency services,†the Public Relations Officer of NAS, Simmons Yussif Kewura stated.
