The National Ambulance Service (NAS) of the Ministry of Health says its preliminary investigation into an incident where an ambulance belonging to the service was used for the purchase and transportation of bags of cement reveals that the act was done by a mechanic working on the vehicle.
A viral video shows a seemingly new ambulance under the one Constituency one Ambulance initiative by the government stationed at Sege was being loaded with bags of cement by some young men.
This act received a lot of backlash on social media with the service being criticized for what is being described as negligence.
But according to the service, the incident which has been captured in a viral video occurred on or around March 26, 2021, while the vehicle with registration number GV 537-20 was in the custody of the suppliers, Service Ghana Autogroup Ltd.
The NAS explained in a statement copied to GhanaWeb that the vehicle was one of the Ambulances being fixed for minor faults by the supplier before it will be received and integrated into the National Ambulance Service fleet.
“The said suppliers had caused the Ambulance to be sent to its garage to address a minor fault. The National Ambulance Service had earlier declined to take custody of the vehicle because of the said fault.
“A mechanic of the said garage (Nana Ofosu Gear Box specialist) after the repairs, drove the ambulance toward the Mallam-Kasoa-Winneba Road on a test drive and during the process employed the vehicle for his private purposes,” the statement signed by Simmons Yussif Kewura, Head, Public Relations, explained further.
The NAS concluded that “the ambulance is still in the custody of Service Ghana Autogroup Ltd and therefore not being used by the paramedics of the National Ambulance Service. It is thus, not part of the National Ambulance Service fleet.”
