Former Health Minister Alban Bagbin
• Alban Bagbin says he made efforts to save the National Ambulance Service from collapsing
• The efforts include the purchase of 161 ambulances for the service
• He made the revelation in parliament following a call by the MP for Edubease
Former Health Minister Alban Bagbin has highlighted the role he played in saving the National Ambulance Service from collapse.
Bagbin who is now the Speaker of Parliament disclosed on the floor of Parliament that he had to make certain move to ensure that the emergency service kept delivering on its mandate.
Bagbin said that his outfit imported 161 ambulances to augment that existing fleet of 33 inadequate ambulances.
“I was minister for Health and I personally as a minister of Health distributed 161 new ambulances that time, we had only 33 in the whole country and so when you added 161, it went to 194 and so it’s good to keep increasing but maintenance is an issue” Alban Bagbin revealed.
Bagbin was reacting to a statement by the Member of Parliament for New Edubease, Adams Abdul Salam on the state of the country’s ambulances.
Abdul Salam appealed for proper maintenance of the ambulances so that they can work efficiently and save lives.
He appealed for regular training of emergency service staff and recruitment of more emergency technical staff to improve delivery.
He stated that a total of 2,147 Emergency Medical Technicians and 900 Emergency Technicians trainees at the Ambulance Service for the entire country is woefully inadequate which the government must employ more hands-on board to improves health care delivery.
He noted that despite the new ambulances purchased by the Akufo-Addo government, that aspect of Ghana’s health delivery is still bedeviled with serious challenges.
