New ambulances being digitized to improve emergency response – Bawumia

The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia says management systems of the ambulances that will be distributed across the constituencies in Ghana will be tracked by a digital address system.

Speaking at the 3rd Chamber Business Awards 2018, Vice President Dr. Bawumia said by the end of next month, when ambulance numbers are called in times of distress, the problem of having to identify locations would be a thing of the past.

“We are making sure that we have an ambulance management system to manage these ambulances. So every ambulance is going to be uniquely tracked, fitted with tablets and with all the digital address systems. So, by the end of next month, when you dial the 112 number, the police ambulance or fire service will know exactly the digital address from which that call is coming,” he said.

Arrival of first batch of ambulances

The first batch of ambulances arrived in September 2019 for all 275 constituencies in the country.

The arrival of the ambulances is part of the fulfilment of a promise made by President Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP Government in the build-up to the 2016 general elections.

President Nana Akufo-Addo promised that each of the 275 constituencies will be given an ambulance.

He also promised to revamp the ailing National Ambulance Service, which as of 2018 had only about 55 ambulances working across the country.

As at today, 96 out of the 275 ambulances are currently parked at the State House awaiting distribution.

However, after calls by the Minority side on Parliament’s Health Committee for the immediate release of the ambulances at the State House, the Ministry of Special Development Initiatives has assured the general public that the ambulances will be released in January 2020.