Shama District Ambulance Officer of the Ghana Health Service, AEMT Prosper Maar has stated that the free ambulance service covers only emergency cases in the country.
According to him, government absorbs cost associated with emergency situation for the general public, hence it’s free of charge.
This has also been reiterated by the president in the speech he delivered last year at the commissioning of the 307 ambulances for each constituencies in the country under the one Constituency one Ambullance program of the government , emphasizing that the service is free.
However, he added that persons seeking the ambulance service under non emergency situations are required to pay for the cost of fuel to access it.
Speaking on Spice FM’s Adzekye Mu Nsem program , Mr Maar stated that service does not generate money but rather, the general public only spend on cost of fuel used to convey a person from one destination to the other for example, patients who call on the Dispatch Center for an ambullance to facilitate referrals from one health facility to the other are normally required to pay cost of transport per the distance.
He went on to further justify that the Ambullance service is a government institution not for profit making.
Elaborating on emergency situations that could be considered for free services, he included road accidents, industrial and domestic accidents, maternal paediatric, trauma, Medical and COVID -19 cases.
An example of non emergency case is referrals.
According records from the unit, Western Region has a total of only 19 public ambulances available for both emergency and non emergency cases.
