‘Cement Ambulance’ was on test drive – Ambulance Service PRO
The National Ambulance Service says it intends to report to the police on Wednesday, the conduct of staff of a garage engaged to repair the gear box of an ambulance seen in a viral video being used to cart cement.
A concerned member of the public had recorded the shocking video of the ambulance being loaded with bags of cement at Buduburam near Kasoa in the Central region, to be carted to an undisclosed destination.
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The ambulance is originally assigned to Sege, Ada West of the Greater Accra Region under the One Constituency, One Ambulance programme of the government.
Expressions of public indignation have trailed publications of the video, and the Ambulance Service says it was supposed to be parked after undergoing repairs at a garage in Mamprobi, Accra, in March of this year.
The abuse of the ambulance only came to the notice of the Service on Tuesday, June 1, 2021 following the publication of the video, recorded on March 26, this year.
Public Relations Officer of the National Ambulance Service (NAS), Simmons Yussif Kewura on Citi FM Tuesday evening, said the ambulance was not in the care of NAS at the time of the ‘scandalous’ abuse but in the hands of the suppliers who were required to service it under warranty and had sublet it to the private garage.
“This sounds very scandalous, isn’t it?”, his host on the radio show, Umaru Sanda suggested, to which he responded “It is, it is, and currently management is planning or tomorrow we are going to report this matter to the police because the ambulances are not meant to carry cement or any other hardware. It is purposely for conveying patients to the hospital…”
So how did a vehicle being fixed at Mamprobi in Accra end up at Buduburam which is beyond Kasoa, Umaru quipped, and Kewura replied; “I told you earlier, after they had fixed the gear box, they went on test drive to find out whether the gear box is working or not, so on their way…yes outside Greater Accra, because they know what they were (ostensibly) using it for.”
Kewura said there were two people on board - the mechanic and driver - and they carried 15 bags of cement suspected to belong to the mechanic, adding also that further police interrogation may elicit further facts.
