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By Felix Engsalige Nyaaba

The director of the Ghana National Ambulance services (NAS), Dr. Nasheru Zakariah has reiterated the government readiness to equip the Ambulance services in order to deal with the high rate of accidents in the country.

He said, as part of plans to help reduce the high number of deaths through motor accidents in the country, the services would soon be provided with 50 new ambulance vehicles by the government to augment the few ambulance vehicles.

According to him, the services have been under resourced for the past years and as part of improving the lives of Ghanaians under the Better Ghana Agenda, the government has decided to equip the ambulance services to be able to meet the challenges on the roads.

Dr. Zakariah made these known on during the passing out ceremony for the second batch of 52 ambulance drivers who underwent 15 days training by the Motor Transport and Traffic Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana police services at its headquarters in Accra.

He revealed that, as part of measures to attend emergency calls in time of accidents, the services,  would soon  establishes rapid  emergency  centers on  some of the major roads to reduce some of the avoidable deaths through accidents.

The NAS Boss said, the oxygen live span for a person who involved in an accident is between 4 to 6 minutes and that the absence of emergency medical services to transfer such patients to the nearest medical center could result into death, adding with the introduction of the rapid unit centers, it would help to save many lives loses during accidents.

Dr. Zakariah however, urged the trainee drivers to be more professional on the roads to ensure that, patients who need emergency medical care do not end up losing their lives.

According to him, the work of Ambulance driver is equally important as that of a medical doctor and that driving patients to Hospital at emergency time should be done on a professional in order not to exacerbate the plight of patients who need prompt medical attention.

In a speech read on his behalf, the Commander of the  Motor Transport and Traffic  Unit (MTTU), ACP Angwubotuge Awuni said, the ambulance services has became an essential unit within the health sector and thus needs efficient and dedicated officers who are properly trained to meet the challenges facing the country.

He said, the major responsibility of an ambulance driver is to respond to emergency calls anytime and any day and to arrive at the emergency scene on time and also ensures the safe transfer of patients to the nearest medical centre.

According to the MTTU Commander, many people die as a result of the inability of the ambulance services drivers to get to some accident scene on time and urged the newly trained drivers to be competent and skillful in the discharge of their duties.

Mr. James Nsoh Abisiwine, the courses leader on behalf of his colleagues expressed their profound gratitude to the organizers and said they would ensure that, the knowledge and skills they acquired are properly applied on the roads to the benefit of the nation.

He said, though the 15 days was not adequate enough for them, he believed the short period has done tremendous services to improve their driving skills.

The 15 days training courses was jointly organized by the Motor Transport and Traffic Unit (MTTU) and the National Ambulance Services (NAS) with a total number of 100 drivers passing out.

It was aimed at curbing the increasing roads accidents in the country in the recent times.

The participants who went through the 15 days training successfully were all giving certificate.