My brother died because we couldn’t pay ¢700 demanded by ambulance service – Joy FM listener recounts

A listener of Joy FM, Seidu Abdul Gafaru, has narrated the ordeal his family went through with the National Ambulance Service (NAS) when his brother was knocked down by a car.

According to him, his brother, Seidu Mohammed had a head injury as a result of the accident and was rushed to the Damongo Government Hospital.

However, upon reaching the hospital, they (family) were told he needed to be rushed to the Tamale Teaching Hospital.

My brother died because we couldn’t pay ¢700 demanded by ambulance service – Joy FM listener recounts
An ambulance
According to him, their real ordeal started when the ambulance which was to transport his brother demanded ¢700 for fuel.

An amount, Seidu said the family did not have readily available.

Seidu said his brother was pronounced dead upon arrival at the Tamale Teaching Hospital

“He was on a motorbike and a car knocked him at a particular junction. So he had a very terrible head injury.”

Ambulance driver takes patient from Cape Coast to Adom FM to seek help
“So we had to rush him to the Damongo Government Hospital and they told us they cannot do anything about it unless we rush him to the Temale Teaching Hospital but the ambulance crew demanded for fuel which cost about GHS700 and we didn’t have the money readily available to pay,” he told said on the Super Morning Show.

Seidu Abdul Gafaru said his brother died at age 26.

“He was a brother to us and was into farming and construction,” he told host, Kojo Yankson on Tuesday.

Also, touching on the last conversation he shared with his late brother, he said his brother asked him to take his academics seriously to take care of their mother.

“He called and during our conversation, he told me that he loved our mum and that I should learn hard and take care of my mum. Those were his last words to me before he had the accident the following day.”

This came up during a discussion on the morning show about the service delivery regime of the National Ambulance Service.

On Monday, NAS’ Chief Executive admitted that officers demanded GH₵600 from the husband of a pregnant woman before agreeing to transport the patient.

The patient, 30-year-old nursing mother, Augustina Awortwe, died whilst in transit due to the delay on the part of the officers of the Service.

Prof Ahmed Nuhu Zakaria, who took his turn before the ad-hoc committee constituted by Parliament to investigate the incident, justified the charge of GH₵600.

According to him, it is standard practice.

“Because it was around the festivities, we were told they had exhausted their fuel. A communication went to the hospital that they didn’t have enough fuel, therefore they will need GH₵600 support of fuel.”

“According to the crew, they were assured that they could move because the hospital was going to arrange either directly or indirectly with the family of the patient to get the fuel support. So the impression was that the husband of the patient was going to provide that support,” he said on Monday, July 18.

He further added, “so they left the hospital with the understanding that they would pick the husband who was going to provide the fuel support. They arrived at the point of picking up the patient’s husband and they discovered that he didn’t have the money for fuel.”

This development, the CEO explained caused the delay.

Source: Ernest Arhinful