By Philip Tengzu
Wa, (UW/R), Sept. 29, GNA – Mr Alban S. K. Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, has advised Ghanaians to contribute their quota to community and national development as the government plays its part since growth is a shared responsibility.
Mr Bagbin said this in Wa during a brief ceremony to hand over a fully furnished ambulance to the Upper West Regional Hospital to help ensure timely access to health care services for the people of the region and beyond.
The purchase of the ambulance was citizen-driven, led by a group of young people in the region who solicited funds from well-meaning people with the Speaker of Parliament being the major donor to the project.
“Almost every need of any community, once identified, can be provided for, if the community has the desire and the ambition to meet that need, and if they have a unity of purpose, they can achieve a common goal,” he observed.
He drew the government and citizens’ attention to the necessity of pre-hospital emergency services, including ambulance services. especially in the rural communities to help meet the emergency health needs of the people.
“The ability to speedily transport members of the community who require urgent medical attention from their location to the nearest health center is a crucial factor that determines survival or death for many of us”, Mr Bagbin stressed.
He, therefore, commended the team for initiating the move to support the hospital with the ambulance and added that it would augment the existing health delivery system in the region.
Madam Erasung Hadijah Is-haq, the convener of the ambulance initiative, said the need for the project arose out of quest to help avoid preventable deaths resulting from delays in accessing healthcare services by the people.
She expressed appreciation to the team members and the public for their unflinching support in cash and in kind throughout the process of mobilising funds to procure the ambulance.
Madam Is-haq extended special commendations to the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban S. K. Bagbin, Justice Yuoni Kolendi, Alhaji Huudu Mogtari, and the Upper West Community who made diverse donations to the tune of GH₵155,500.00 to the ambulance project.
Dr. Robert Amesiya, the Medical Director of the Upper West Regional Hospital, expressed appreciation to the Upper West Youth team and the donors for coming to the aid of the facility with the donation of the ambulance.
While assuring the people of prudent use of the ambulance to ensure it served its purpose, he said, it would help reduce challenges in providing timely services to the people.
Dr Amesiya said the inadequate number of ambulances at the facility had been a bane to their efforts in transporting patients to hospitals in other regions for some specialists’ services as his outfit did not have the required number of specialists.
The Medical Director also appealed to stakeholders to support the hospital in its maintenance services as the three-year services warranty would soon elapse, leaving the maintenance responsibilities on the shoulders of the facility.
GNA