Lack Of Fuel Hampering Movement of Ambulance Service In Upper East Region

The Upper East Regional Directorate of the National Ambulance Service has bemoaned the inability of the outfit to provide timely and efficient services to the people in the communities due to shortage of fuel to use the ambulances dispatched to the region over 3 years ago.

The concerns were raised by the Regional Director of the Service, Mr Adongo Seidu Awuni over the weekend.

Speaking in a press conference, Mr Awuni intimated that after the government supplied ambulances to various districts across the region as part of national ambulances delivery plan, lack of fuel has crippled the outfit from adequately providing support to various hospitals in the region as part of healthcare delivery.

” The government has done well to restock various district assemblies with new ambulances to supplement healthcare delivery over 3 years ago but in recent times, we are unable to consistently use the vehicles to chauffeur patients who need transfer to referral centres within or without the region to get essential treatment when required because we lack access to adequate fuel to work effectively “.

Also, the Director added that it was appealing to government, private sector donors and public spirited individuals to pool resources together to get fuel allocations to the Regional Directorate to enable the Service contribute to saving lives and enhancing healthcare delivery in the region in conjunction with medical professionals in the region.

” We are only appealing to the general public ,corporate organizations and business entities that the government alone cannot do everything in the healthcare delivery system on its own and as such they can donate money or equally sign MOUs with various fuel stations in the region to get us strategic stocks of gasoline to put in our vehicles as part of being proactive when it comes to movement of patients across health facilities and prevent avoidable loss of lives”.

The development is frustrating the efficient delivery of healthcare service  in the region amongst healthcare professionals and patients who require these services in the region.

Written by ; Citizen Sika Togoh