Outrage following Ambulance Service’ demand for ‘fuel money’, Ghanaians call for overhaul.
Pregnant woman dies after delay of Ambulance Service
We cannot be blamed for pregnant woman's death, Ambulance Service CEO
CEO of Ambulance Service explains why they charge monies to transport patients
Following the admission by its Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Ahmed Nuhu Zakaria, that his officials demand fuel money from patients before transporting them to health facilities, a number of Ghanaians have called for an overhaul of the Ghana National Ambulance Service.
This was brought up during a hearing of an ad hoc parliamentary committee formed to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of a pregnant woman in January 2022.
Augustina Awotwi, 30, died allegedly as a result of delays on the part of the ambulance crew transporting her to Accra from Takoradi.
While answering to questions before the parliamentary ad hoc committee, Prof Ahmed Nuhu Zakaria admitted that his officials demanded GHc600 from the husband of the deceased but attributed the delay to the death of the pregnant woman.
He explained that there were other underlying health conditions that this pregnant woman had that could have caused her death.
Because it was around the festivities, we were told they had exhausted their fuel. A communication went to the hospital that they didn’t have enough fuel, therefore, they will need GH?600 support of fuel.
“According to the crew, they were assured that they could move because the hospital was going to arrange either directly or indirectly with the family of the patient to get the fuel support. So, the impression was that the husband of the patient was going to provide that support.
“.., so they left the hospital with the understanding that they would pick the husband who was going to provide the fuel support. They arrived at the point of picking up the patient’s husband and they discovered that he didn’t have the money for fuel,” Prof Nuhu Zakaria is quoted to have said before the ad-hoc committee constituted by Parliament to investigate the incident.
But this response has gotten a lot of people even more enraged, calling for the service to be revamped.
Some of them spoke to the JoyNews channel and monitored by GhanaWeb. Others have since the incident, taken to social media to express their views.
Below are some of their experiences with the Ambulance Service:
“I remember one time there was an accident and we called the Ambulance Service. When they came, the person was in blood lying on the floor and what they tell us is to pay before? Kojo, I got hold of myself; I would have thrown a blow. We called you, you had the petrol to come but you don’t have the petrol to take the person to the hospital? That was very terrible… we got a motorbike – this same motorbike that they say is not good, and took the person to the hospital,” one of them shared.
Another caller said: “I was feeling unwell so what I did was I called the Ambulance Service and then what they told me was that, hey, I better pick a taxi and get myself to a hospital… and it was just about 1 am. So, what I did eventually was that I had to struggle and then get out of the hall, and thankfully, some of the guys had gone to the nightclub and they had returned in an Uber, and that saved me.”
A third caller, who referred to herself as a health worker, equally shared her frustration with the system:
“I’m a health worker, and where I work from, before we send a case to the (sic) Teaching Hospital, they’d charge GHc100 from the Ambulance Service and the saddest thing about it is that is not only the Ambulance Service that delays the services: even the referred center. For instance, Korle Bu will tell you there is no bed and then you get there and they will be delaying you. Sometimes you refer cases and you spend more than 3 hours. These things have to be dealt with because it is getting unbecoming.”
Another called said: “My brother had an accident and then the case was very bad so when we went to the (sic) hospital, they told us to buy fuel so that they could move him from the hospital to the teaching hospital. So, I had to contact my uncles before we could raise that money because at that instance, we didn’t have that money on us. Unfortunately, when they took him, he passed away.”
Ghana spends nearly 100 million cedis on fuel for presidential, legislative, and judicial vehicles. However, because the National Ambulance Service lacks ambulance fuel, people in need of emergency care must fuel their cars in order to receive care. I'm ill!
Ambulance service is both a public good and a public service. They, like the police and fire departments, provide emergency services. Do you pay the cops for the job they're supposed to do? Do you fuel the fire engine that comes to save you from a fire?
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