Twenty health personnel across the country are receiving training in pre-hospital emergency care from the Mastercard Foundation Africa Higher Education Health Collaborative.

The pre-hospital emergency care short course which is in partnership with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the University of Toronto, Canada, seeks to equip health personnel with the requisite skills to respond swiftly during critical moments.

The course is spearheaded by the Health Employment pillar of the collaborative led by Dr. Kofi Akohene Mensah.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Emergency Medicine Specialist at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Dr. Osei Kwame was hopeful the course will aid in the reduction of the death rate in Ghana.

“We have cases where after accidents on the road you see a lot of people filming and doing nothing about patients who are in dying need of emergent care.

“This is going to address that issue and increase the number of competent care as well as professional responders so that the care start from the incident site all the way to the hospital.

 “We tend to think that the care begins at the hospital but the beginning of the care is at the pre-hospital site where the incident happens and if we are able to intercede and appropriately apply the skills from this course it will affect lives."

“It will not only reduce mortality and mobility rate, it will also increase the capacity of the people who have the skills and knowledge to address these concerns,” he said.

Leader of the team from the University of Toronto, Dr. Ian Drennan said: “This course will give us the opportunity for us to learn and collaborate  with our colleagues here in Ghana around, learn a bit about the pre-hospital system here in Ghana and the challenges that the people in Ghana face to provide quality pre-hospital care,” he said.