Ambulances won’t survive – Sam George

Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram Constituency Samuel Nartey George says the ambulances procured by government and distributed to the 275 constituencies will not survive Ghana’s roads.

According to him, the nature of roads in the various constituencies will destroy the ambulances in no time.

Sam George, as he is popularly called, made this known on TV3’s New Day on Wednesday while discussing the much talked-about ambulances distributed on Tuesday, January 28.

After being parked for months, the ambulances procured for the National Ambulance Service under the Ministry of Special Development Initiatives were commissioned by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the Black Star Square.

Branded with names of the 275 constituencies, the ambulances were handed to the various representatives in Parliament.

Many had called for the immediate distribution of the ambulances when they were procured from Germany.

Political parties notably the National Democratic Congress (NDC) said the government was insensitive to lives of the ordinary Ghanaian by not distributing the ambulances as more deaths are recorded.

“Indeed government’s heartless handling of this ambulance fiasco so far underscores the fact that President Akufo-Addo has very little regard for the lives of Ghanaians, particularly considering the snobbish remarks by the Minister of Special Development Initiatives, Hawa Koomson that Ghanaians were already dying before the ambulances were procured,” the NDC said in a statement.

Despite a January 6, 2020 announcement by President Akufo-Addo, the Service had called for the postponement of the commissioning as a result of a scheduled training for personnel as well as the fixing of trackers on the medical buses.

But a day after a ceremony was held to distribute the buses, Sam George says they will not survive on Ghana’s “bad” roads.

He said a large part of the country cannot boast of good roads and so it was not prudent for the country to invest in buses.

“The ambulances have a lifespan of five years and that is how come you must have a cycle of constantly replacing the ambulances,” he said.

“Government bringing in these ambulances is not the biggest intervention.”

Sam George claims a large part of his constituency, for instance, does not have good roads and so “if that ambulance travels on the road five times, the ambulance will break down”.

He said the roads will have dire effects on the ambulances.

“It is one thing having ambulances and it is another thing maintaining them.”

But MP for Sekondi Constituency Andrew Egyapa Mercer said despite not solving all the health problems facing the country, “it is a useful start, not the end”.