Former President John Dramani Mahama has chastised the Akufo-Addo government for distributing ambulances without the corresponding resourcing of health facilities in the country.
In his Thursday evening interaction on Facebook, Mr. Mahama felt the ambulances may not be able to serve their purpose because most of the country’s hospitals and clinics are not capable of handling emergency cases.
“All the hospitals that were being built to improve healthcare have been brought to a standstill and instead, they are glorifying in the distribution of ambulances. Where do ambulances take sick people to?” he questioned.
Mr. Mahama also pointed out that, the government’s failure to complete abandoned health facilities in the country was a clear indication that the distribution of the ambulances was a “complete loss of prioritisation”.
“So the priority [should be] to finish the hospitals so that if an accident happens and you pick the patient, then you have a good facility to send them to. [All the major hospiotals] we started have come to a standstill and yet we are distributing ambulances. So you pick the person and you take them to the hospital and they say there is no bed and accident victims are treated on plastic chairs. I mean there is a complete loss of prioritisation.”
Release of ambulances
President Nana Akufo-Addo commissioned 307 ambulances for distribution nationwide on national TV this past Tuesday.
Although some regions have received their fleet of ambulances, others are yet to receive theirs for onward distribution to the various Metropolitan, Municipal and Districts Assemblies.
In areas where the ambulances have arrived, other re-commissioning ceremonies are being held to inaugurate the vehicles again; a move many Ghanaians have criticised because of what they feel is a waste of state resources.
