Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin has observed that but for some interventions he put in place during his tenure as Health Minister, the National Ambulance Service would have grounded to a halt.

Commenting on a statement on the floor by MP for New Adubiase, Adams Abdul Salam, the Speaker revealed that he augmented the limited fleet of ambulances at the National Ambulance Service from 33 to 194.

“I was Minister for Health and I personally distributed 161 new ambulances. At that time, we had only 33 in the whole country and so when you add 161, it went to 194. So it’s good to keep increasing but maintenance is an issue” Alban Bagbin revealed.

He called for a critical look at how to ensure regular maintenance of ambulances in the country.

The Speaker’s comment was necessitated by a comment made by MP for Adansi Asokwa, K.T. Hammond who contended that the Akufo-Addo government deserved praise for its recent addition of some 307 ambulances to the fleet at the Ambulance Service.

Adams Abdul Salam in his statement called for regular training and recruitment of more Emergency Medical Technicians to augment the existing ones. He also suggested strengthening of ties with local health facilities to ensure timely emergency medical care and appropriateness of transfers of patients.

He stated that having a total of 2,147 Emergency Medical Technicians and 900 Emergency Technicians trainees at the Ambulance Service to serve the entire country is woefully inadequate and urged the government to employ more hands-on board to improve health care delivery.

The New Adubiase MP said despite the additional 307 commissioned by the President, the Ambulance Service is faced with challenges that sometimes exacerbate the conditions of the sick and injured who are carried on the ambulances and in some cases leading to avoidable deaths. He cited the death of a Headteacher at Adansi Subin Camp, Tekpor Wilson, who died through an accident caused by an ambulance within his constituency.