MOH urged to develop manual for first aid providers

Mr Kwame Apedzi has urged the Ministry of Health (MOH) to develop a manual for individuals and organisations involved in the provision of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) or first aid providers.

Mr Apedzi, who is the Chief Executive Officer, St John Ambulance, Ghana (SJAG), said this would help to regularise the practices of individuals and organisations involved in EMS provision.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on Friday, on the sidelines of the 78th Anniversary of SJAG, Mr Apedzi said the absence of a manual developed by the MOH for EMS providers, had led to many providing their own methods of giving first aid.

He said a country like the United Kingdom had developed a first aid manual to serve as a guide for all persons and organisations involved in first aid delivery.

“In the UK, a first aid manual has been collaboratively developed by major EMS operators like the St John Ambulance, St Andrew Ambulance and the British Red Cross to serve as a uniform training syllabus for all first aiders in that country,” he explained.

He said SJAG, as a member of the Order of St John, a major international charitable organisation, it was focused on the alleviation of human suffering.

This, he said, had led to the training and provision of first aid services, disaster management preparedness, ambulance services, and community health and youth development.

Mr Apedzi said SJAG was established in Ghana by the then colonial or British Police in 1937, with a governing council, which was established by Act of Parliament (Act 57 of 1959).

He said for the past 78 years, it had rendered charitable services to many trained millions of the workforce in first aid, provided emergency services to victims of disasters and provided first aid cover at national and corporate meetings.

“We have also played host to and trained employees of the National Ambulance Service (NAS) and continue to provide professional development to our internal stakeholders,” he said.

He cited lack of funding from the Ministry of Health, lack of ambulances, and inadequate training equipment as some of the major challenges facing SJAG and expressed the hope that SJAG would have its fair share of the ambulances that the Government was importing and supplying to agencies and departments.