It has been a little over a year since government, through the Ministry for Special Initiatives distributed ambulances to all constituencies in Ghana and yet, the Bawku Municipality in the Upper East Region does not have a dedicated office for the ambulance service.
A1radioonline.com has learned that the Bawku Municipality has not had an office space for the National Ambulance Service as far back as 2008. The same can be said about the Builsa South District which is also in the Upper East Region.
The Upper East Regional Manager of the National Ambulance Service, Ali Baba in an interview with A1 Radio on Friday, February 26, 2021 said the situation is worrying and really affecting the smooth operation of the service in the Bawku Municipality as well as the Builsa South District.
According to him, though the Bawku Municipal Assembly had earlier (after the last distribution of the ambulance to all districts) assured that the National Ambulance Service will be given an office space and residential accommodation, the assembly later declined on the offer and rather, asked that the National Ambulance Service should perch with the Ghana National Fire Service.
Even before the government distributed ambulance to all constituencies, the Bawku Municipality did not have an assigned ambulance from the National Ambulance Service, all because of the non-availability of office and accommodation for staff.
“…for Bawku Municipal, since we came here 2008, I have been following them to get an office accommodation, unfortunately, they never had, that is why they never had an ambulance. This time we had a government giving each constituency an ambulance, still we struggled and struggled with them and they sent us to the fire service. They gave us one room, not for just ambulance service but to share with officers of the Ghana National Fire Service. This room is where the firemen when they are tired, they come to relax; they have their bed on one side and our table on the other side.”
In the Builsa South District, the situation is the same, where the ambulance service is perching with the fire service in a small room and there is no accommodation for the staff yet.
Source: a1radioonline.com|101.1 MHz|Ghana
