Madam Mavis Hawa Koomson has clarified at a press briefing on Tuesday that even though Vice President Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia had mentioned that government will purchase 275 ambulances to boost the operations of the National Ambulance Service, procurement challenges have delayed the arrival of the buses.
Although the ambulances were to have arrived in the county by September, the minister says June 2019 is the feasible time for their arrivals. Mrs. Koomson asserted that it took 4 to 5 months for one tender document to go through in the public sector as the tender goes through various stages before a contract is awarded.
The Minister of Special Development Initiatives further submitted:
“It was our intention to even have our ambulances by close of year [2018], but looking at the procurement process, I believe that maybe by the first week in December and somewhere in May or June next year [2019], the ambulances will be in this country. You cannot just get up and start using government money just like that. You have to go through procurement processes and it is very very difficult… You can use five months for just one project procurement so if we have 12 months in a year and we use five months for one project, how many projects can you do?”
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia Speaking at the opening of the 2018 Annual Health Summit organised by the Ghana Health Service in Accra had decried the shortage of ambulances across the country to ferry pole in need promising that the Akufo-Addo government will provide an ambulance for each constituency.
“You cannot have a national ambulances service without ambulances, it becomes a problem. So the government has through the Ministry of Special Development Initiative, who work with the development …..begun the processes of procuring ambulances for every constituency in this country, and we have 275 constituencies so we will procure 275 ambulances, all of which will become a part of the national ambulances system to help in the development of the health services,” he said.
The pledge was rendered back in April 2018; there’s been little progress in the fortunes of the Emergency Response Service since.
According to Mrs. Koomson, “as we speak, the tender documents are out. We’ve gone through the PA [procurement Authority] the tender documents are out with the suppliers whiles we continue with the process.”
For 29 million people only 55 services the population with 100 broken down.
Michael Eli Dokosi/goldstreetbusiness.com
