A native of Walewale, Alhassan Abubakari Dauda has donated an ambulance to the West Mamprusi Municipal Hospital.
This is to help cater for referral and emergency cases within the municipality.
This is the second time the German-based native is donating such ambulance to the municipality.
The first donation was done in 2003 when he donated an ambulance with an engine capacity of 3.5 to the municipality. The ambulance has served the municipality for more than a decade.
The second donation came 17 years after the philanthropist made a pledge to add another ambulance at an opportune time.
The 2003 donation was the first ambulance donated to the hospital since its establishment until the member of Parliament, Dr. Sagri Bambangi donated an additional one in 2016.
The donation coincided with the arrival of the government’s one constituency one ambulance which was dedicated by the incumbent Member of Parliament for the Walewale Constituency, Dr. Sagri Bambangi.
Speaking at a short ceremony to present the ambulance, the philanthropist, Alhassan Abubakari Dauda said: “I am happy to honour my promise by presenting this second ambulance.”
Mr. Alhassan Abubakari Dauda said this didn’t come as easy as the first ambulance due to changes in import rules at the harbour, he told Citi News.
“It was unfortunate that I wasn’t aware of the changes in the rules. I shipped it down and applied for a waiver in order to get it out of the harbour without paying the import duty. And despite letters upon letters from the Walewale hospital authority and North East Regional Coordinating Council, all the letters were rejected and we still have to pay the duties.”
He further said, “the reason why they rejected the letters was that according to him the officials at the harbour said that people abroad ship down things like that and end up selling them after acquiring duty waivers.”
The cost of the ambulance is 11000 Euros whilst shipping and Customs clearance cost 60,000 Euros.
Receiving the ambulance, the Medical Superintend for the West Mamprusi Municipal Assembly, Dr. Shaibu S. Shahadu thanked the philanthropist for his sole commitment to ensuring that the people of the municipality get the needed health care provisions.
Whilst giving an assurance to put the ambulance into good use, the medical superintendent appealed to the people of the municipality to take good eating habits seriously in order to avoid contracting certain diseases.
The MP for the Walewale Constituency Dr. Sagri Bambangi commended the philanthropist for his support to the municipality stating that the gesture fits into government’s agenda of providing adequate health services to the people.
Dr. Sagri said the provision of ambulances is necessary especially in the rural areas where health care services are limited.
Some residents who spoke to Citi News complained about the cost of getting an ambulance service.
“If you need one in times of emergency, you have to pay 400 Ghana cedis,” says Awabu Nashiru, a resident of Walewale.
The West Mamprusi Hospital is a referral point for over 150 communities in the area and nearly 70% of the communities are hard to reach due to the deplorable road networks.
Distribution of ambulances continues in Eastern, Volta, others
More regions have seen their constituencies receive ambulances promised by the President in a bid to boost emergency healthcare.
President Nana Akufo-Addo commissioned 307 ambulances for distribution nationwide on January 28.
All six constituencies in the North East Region have received their ambulances as of Wednesday, February 5, 2020, according to the North East Regional Coordinating Council.
The ambulance for the Walewale Constituency was presented to the Municipal Chief Executive Issahaku Aremeyaw Somo, by the Member of Parliament for the constituency, Dr. Sagri Bambangi during a short ceremony.
