Ranking Member on Parliament’s Health Committee, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has disclosed that reason given by the Western Regional Ambulance Service’s on why they had no fuel in one of it’s ambulances intended to transport a pregnant woman to the hospital is not tenable.
According to him, the excuse of it being the festive holiday as being given by the ambulance service must not be encouraged. Mr Akandoh explained that the cost of fuel for ambulances must be catered for by the state instead of it being demanded from patients patronising the service.
His comments follow an accusation made by Mr John Obiri Yeboah on the failure of personnel of the Ambulance Service to transport his wife to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) on time due to lack of fuel.
“Now the first issue the ambulance service raised was insufficient fuel and the reason for the insufficient fuel is because of the festivities. For me, and in my humble opinion, I don’t think that we must allow or accept things that are not normal to be normal. It is not normal to be asking or charging patients in critical condition, it is not normal. So, it is not as though that is what we have been doing. It is not normal”.
Kwabena Mintah Akandoh
Justifying the lack of fuel in the ambulance, the Regional Head of the Ambulance Service, Dr. Tawiah Siameh, rehashed the position that the festive holidays was responsible for the ambulances lack of ample fuel to transport the patient.
“We told them (Holy Child Hopsital) that because of the time, that was the holiday, when we have these festivities we don’t have enough fuel. So, if the hospital could support us, and the hospital agreed that no problem, they could do so”.
Dr. Tawiah Siameh
Fuel cost must be borne by the state
Mr Akandoh insisted that the cost of fuel must be “wholly borne” by the state and questioned whether they are adequately resourced to have fuel. He expressed that if the festive holidays is the reason being peddled for the loss of a life in the country, then “we have a problem” because it is even during the festive season that they must be on high alert.
“And quite apart from that, as ambulance services, they must have a mechanism to have access to fuel 24hours a day. No holiday; because people don’t decide when to have an emergency situation. So, we must look at that point critically”.
Kwabena Mintah Akandoh
The country, Mr. Akandoh noted, must determine whether or not they have a reliable source of funding for the operation of the ambulance service. He indicated that it is as a result of this that he has called for a parliamentary probe into the matter to ensure that culprits are severely punished for the role they played which resulted in the death of a new mother.
“It’s very important. No matter the amount of ambulances we’ll buy as a country, if we don’t operate them well, we’ll not achieve the desired result. So, for me, the only thing that will resolve this matter to its logical conclusion is a probe so that we can ask all the critical questions”.
Kwabena Mintah Akandoh
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