Destitute and sick, a fairly old man was returned to the side of the road where he was abandoned to the rains because the ambulance that sent him to the hospital could not get a place for him to receive treatment.

In a classic story of  how Ghana's institutions have failed, the Police, the Police hospital and the Ghana Ambulance Service could not help the clearly distressed and ailing Jacob Basil Asare as he was exposed to the rain for most part of yesterday, Wednesday November 5, 2014.

Two Joy News TV reporters, Solomon Joojo Cobbinah and Rebecca Darko, who found the homeless man said they learnt residents of Kokomelemele had tried to assist the man but they did not achieve success.

Two residents talk to Joy News TV reporters

A resident who gave his name as Bright Boateng told the TV reporters that “we called the Kotobabi Police station to act, but officers said they only had a responsibility to carry the man if he was dead.”

With the police reluctant to take action, the resident said they called the Ambulance Service who arrived to convey the man to the Police hospital.

“Unfortunately, staff at the hospital said there were no beds so they asked us to take the man away. The ambulance people dumped him here and left”, Mr Boateng narrated.

Inspired by their own sense of civic responsibility, Bright Boateng and the two Joy News TV reporters put Jacob in the bucket of a Multimedia Pick-Up truck and headed to the Ridge Hospital.

After helping the reporters put Jacob Basil Asare into the vehicle, Bright and his friends went ahead to pave the way for the vehicle with their motorbikes as they battled a heavy traffic.

Luck was on the side of Jacob because at the Ridge Hospital, he got a bed and he was attended to.

 “We got him a folder and paid for his medication. Finally, he was well covered and his dignity restored”, Joojo Cobbinah said.

The reporters went ahead to locate the exact ambulance that carried Jacob parked at the Accra Sports Stadium, the staff  taking it easy in an air conditioned office.

The Ambulance staff said off camera they cleaned the man, fed him and took him to the Police Hospital but they were left with no option than to return him to the spot they carried him because the hospital insisted there were no beds available.

A member of the ambulance crew said they were asked by nurses at the Police Hospital to take the "infected man" away.

The ambulance service however says it will officially react to the story at a later date.

This single story begs one question: who cares for a sick and homeless in Ghana?

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