The Ranking Member on the Health Committee of Parliament, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has disclosed that 91 out of the 307 ambulances imported and commissioned by the President Akufo-Addo in 2020 are not operational.
According to him, whereas about 79 have completely broken down, 12 others have been involved in accidents and are thus not in a good state.
Making the claim during a debate on the budget estimates for the Ministry of Health, Mr. Akandoh bemoaned the lack of funding for the National Ambulance Service despite being inundated with huge cases in the past few years.
“In 2022, the National Ambulance Service recorded not less than 41,000 cases; in 2023, as at the time they appeared before us, they had recorded only 27,000 cases.”
“Mr. Speaker, as I have read from the report, out of about GH¢67 million in allocation, they have received only GH¢20 million. Mr. Speaker, out of the 307 ambulances that were imported into this country in 2020, about 79 have completely broken down and are not in operation, and about 12 have been involved in accidents. All in all, about 91 of the ambulances are not in operation, and if we continue this way, four years from now, we will not have any ambulances left in the fleet.”
President Akufo-Addo commissioned the ambulances at the forecourt of the Black Star Square in Accra on Tuesday, January 28, 2020.
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