275 ambulances parked at the Parliament House in Accra was expected to be commissioned and distributed today, January 6.
But the said ambulances will not be commissioned and distributed as expected.
President Akufo-Addo during a media encounter at the Jubilee House in December 2019 said the plan for not distributing the ambulances was to avoid complaints of bias on the part of the government if only part of the promised 275 was distributed.Â
President Akufo-Addo said he decided against distributing the ambulances because he didn't want to be accused of favouritism.
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"The Minister for Special Development Initiatives Mavis Hawa Koomson who is responsible for bringing the ambulances told me some were in so she wants to distribute but I told her no. I want us to have all that we procured so we distribute to all the 275 Constituencies at once. All will be in by the end of this month. I know what will happen if you start distributing and some are not getting. On January 6, 2020, I will commission them and the distribution will begin simultaneously and nobody will accuse me of favouritism."
Why the ambulances will not be commissioned
The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu has requested for the postponement of the commissioning of the ambulances.
This follows a letter from the National Ambulance Service stating five reasons why the planned commissioning and distribution should be halted temporarily.
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The five reasons covered training of staff and paramedics, state of the art digitized ICT dispatch system, tracking devices, service centres and labelling of the ambulances.
In a letter to the President, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu said "having engaged them (Ambulance service) and listened to the reasons for the request for the postponement, I would like to add my voice for their request to be granted"
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