307 ambulance ventilators cannot be better response to coronavirus - Kwesi Pratt tells govt

Seasoned Journalist, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, wants the current administration to stop priding itself that it has been able to acquire 307 ambulances equipped with ventilators for the treatment of COVID-19 patients in severe conditions.

According to Mr. Pratt, the purpose of the mobile ventilators is to augment the work of the Ambulance Services in the country and not to be used as supplementary ventilators for COVID-19 patients in hospitals.

It could be recalled that Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare, Presidential Health Advisor in an interview on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' somewhere in April, indicated that the entire nation has 100 ventilators but due to the timely intervention of President Nana Akufo-Addo, the over 300 ambulances all have ventilators which could be used to supplement those at the hospitals.

Addressing the issue on Tuesday, May 5, 2020 edition of the same programme (Kokrokoo), Kwesi Pratt, who is the Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, told host Kwami Sefa Kayi that arguments about the availability of mobile ventilators are baseless because ambulance ventilators cannot be comparable to having ventilators in hospitals.

"It is not for the management of COVID-19. The ventilators in the ambulance are for treating patients when they are being rushed to the health facility but it is impossible to put the patient on that kind of ventilator any longer once he or she is transferred to a hospital or health facility. So, stop making such statements. It is good to have over 300 ambulances with ventilators but it's not the response to COVID-19," he emphasized.

He therefore called on government to look at local production of ventilators to equip the various hospitals in the country, further stating that "100 ventilators even under normal circumstances for a population of 30 million are woefully inadequate".