Accra, Feb 08, GNA – The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament at its public sitting on Tuesday, declined hearing on the non-utilization of 30 new ambulances, procured in 2016 by the Ministry of Health.
Mr James Klutse Avedzi, Chairman of PAC, said the Committee was unable to examine the issue of the 30 ambulances procured in 2016 by the Ministry of Health for the National Ambulance Service because it was currently pending before the Court.
He stated this at the Committee’s sitting in Accra to scrutinize the Auditor-General’s Reports on the Public Accounts of Ghana on Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), for the year ending 2018.
The report indicated that some 30 ambulances procured in 2016 by the Ministry of Health for the National Ambulance Service had been left at the mercy of the weather at the Air Force Base, Burma Camp, Accra, which attracted a monthly ground rent of GHS1,500.00.
Dr Clement Apaak, Member of PAC/Member of Parliament for Builsa South, noted that the response before the Committee indicated that action proposed to have been taken was that currently the issue was before the Court and that the National Ambulance Service had no oversight responsibility over the 30 ambulances.
Since the case was pending before the Court, the Chairman said: “We will not discuss the legal aspect of it because the issue is before Court.”
Mr Avedzi, who is also the Member of Parliament for Ketu North, added that the Committee could not proceed with the matter because it was before the Court.
He said the Ministry of Health in a response indicated that the 30 Mercedes Benz sprinter ambulances were part of the 200 to be procured, which were found not to conform to specifications and that the issue was being handled by the Ministry of Health while the National Ambulance Service only provided the responsibility for safe keeping.
“We want to find out from the Ministry of Health if is it because the ambulances were not up to specifications that is why they were not being put to use? Mr Avedzi quizzed”
According to the Ministry of Health’s representative at the Committee’s meeting, the ambulances were rejected because they were not ambulances in the real sense of it; the fittings that were supposed to accompany the vehicles were absent in the 30 ambulances when they arrived.
GNA