Motorway: Red Cross office has no electricity

The Ghana Red Cross Emergency Response First Aid Post at the Accra end of the Tema motor way continue to face serious challenges with resources to effectively give first aid care to accident victims on that road despite numerous calls for support.

Mr Francis Obeng, National Red Cross Coordinator who heads the Center told Weekend Finder, which although his outfit has began a 24 hour service to ensure that accident victims do not die needlessly for lack of first aid , the facility is still not connected to electricity.

He said the situation is making it very difficult for night shift volunteers to work effectively.

Additionally, he said the facility is not able to keep cold compressors which are essential elements in first aid care for most accident victims who have swellings after an accident.

He told Weekend Finder that it would cost just about GHc 2000 to get the facility to be connected to the national grid and therefore called on corporate Ghana to held connect the facility to electricity.

When the Weekend Finder visited the facility later last year, it was seriously under resourced and lacking basic materials such as cotton wool, hand gloves and bandages needed to effectively give care to accident victims.

The situation has however not changed much and Mr Francis Obeng wants individuals and corporate Ghana to take issues of first aid a little more seriously.

He reiterated that the facility is sometimes handicapped when it comes to fueling the only ambulance it uses for conveying accident victims to the hospital.

“We are sometimes unable to fuel the car and we would be glad if some institutions come to our aid”, he appealed.

It is estimated that the Tema Motorway records about six accidents a day especially on rainy days resulting in deaths and serious injuries.