Bureau of Public Safety backs postponement of commissioning of new ambulances
6th January 2020
The Bureau of Public Safety (BPS) has commended the National Ambulance Service for ‘intervening’ in the scheduled commissioning of the distribution of new ambulances to all the constituencies across the country.
According to the Bureau, the move by the Service’s CEO, Prof Ahmed Zakariah is professionally appropriate and prevents a “hot political potato throw about”.
The National Ambulance Service (NAS) had earlier pleaded with President Nana Akufo-Addo to halt the scheduled distribution of new ambulances on January 6.
It argued that “important technical issues need to be completely addressed before the ambulances can be commissioned and dispatched to the various constituencies.”
Already, the decision to hold on to the deployment of the first batch which remain parked at the forecourt of the State House for some months has attracted backlash from a section of the pubic including the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The Service, in a letter through the Health Ministry to the President, recommended that the commissioning be postponed to January 28, 2020, to among other things “ensure efficient and effective emergency responses suffered some delays due to unforeseen circumstances.”
Executive Director of the Bureau of Public Safety Nana Yaw Akwada agrees.
“We urge it to further dig deeper into issues of everyday running cost for fuel and maintenance. It must further seek utmost clarity and preparedness of recipient constituencies on where these service vehicles will be stationed within the constituencies to ensure efficient deployment upon request,” Mr Akwada said in a statement on Monday.
He added that: “These batch of service vehicles are the best by far to be imported into the country and we must do everything necessary to ensure that citizens derive the best of use from them.”
myjoyonline