Ambulance Service personnel accused of unprofessionalism
Woman in labour dies after Ambulance Service allegedly demanded GH¢600 for fuel
Chief Executive of the National Ambulance Service (NAS), Prof Ahmed Nuhu Zakaria has acknowledged personnel of the service demanded GH₵ 600 to transport the woman who died in labour in January 2022.
Prof Nuhu Zakaria, however, indicated that there was nothing wrong with the action of the officers since it is standard practice for the service to demand payment of money to buy fuel before transporting persons to health facilities, myjoyonline.com reports.
He added that, the crew for the said incident had the understanding that they will be given the money for the fuel by the family of the pregnant woman before they left to go and pick her up.
“Because it was around the festivities, we were told they had exhausted their fuel. A communication went to the hospital that they didn’t have enough fuel, therefore, they will need GH₵600 support of fuel.
“According to the crew, they were assured that they could move because the hospital was going to arrange either directly or indirectly with the family of the patient to get the fuel support. So, the impression was that the husband of the patient was going to provide that support.
“.., so they left the hospital with the understanding that they would pick the husband who was going to provide the fuel support. They arrived at the point of picking up the patient’s husband and they discovered that he didn’t have the money for fuel,” Prof Nuhu Zakaria is quoted to have said before the ad-hoc committee constituted by Parliament to investigate the incident.
A resident of Sekondi-Takoradi, John Obiri Yeboah, accused some personnel of the National Ambulance Service of unprofessionalism leading to the death of his wife.
According to a report by Skyypowerfm.com sighted by GhanaWeb, the husband of the deceased accused the Ambulance Service officials of demanding an amount of GH¢600 before transporting his wife to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital when she had an emergency.
Yeboah noted that his pregnant wife who was due for delivery was asked to report at the Fijai Holy Child Hospital where she was scheduled to undergo a caesarean section on Monday, January 3, 2021.
According to Yeboah, his wife successfully underwent surgery early in the morning on January 4, 2021. He further said that he left the hospital to go and prepare food for his wife at home and while he was home, he received a call from his wife’s sister informing him that she had suffered a complication and was to be transferred to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.
“I met them (personnel of the service) with my wife and her sister in the vehicle and right at that moment, they demanded GH¢600, giving an excuse that there is no fuel in the vehicle to transport my wife to Accra. I was a bit confused because I had not prepared and thought it would rather be included in my final bill.
“I did not have enough money which I told the ambulance team, they moved some distance but stopped at a filling station in Assorko Essaman, emphasizing there is no fuel and cannot go further. We spent some moments there so I had to find GH¢50 for fuel but the driver rather moved back to the hospital which a heated argument ensued between them and the hospital staff,” he stated in the radio interview.
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The Ambulance Service officials allegedly demanded GH¢600 to purchase fuel