Bong Mines, Bong County – Motorcycles in Fuamah District, Bong County have turned into ‘alternative ambulances’ for referrals of critically ill patients at the Bong Mines hospital due to lack of an ambulance.
Report by Selma Lomax, [email protected]
The only ambulance of the hospital has been out of use for a long time and is currently parked at the compound.
During an interview with reporters in Bong Mines, the medical director of the hospital, Dr. Francis Obiazi, bemoaned the situation as dire.
“In fact, as for ambulance the least said the better,” he bemoaned, adding, “we have a full ambulance that’s sitting on blocks right now.”
He said despite the challenges they try to improvise when the need arises to refer a patient by using the private vehicle or rent a motorcycle.
Obiazi appealed to government and non-governmental organizations, to support the hospital with ambulances.
He said Fuamah District with a population of about 20,000 had only one national ambulance serving the entire districts and other areas, and that compelled relatives of most referred patients from towns and villages to rely on commercial vehicles.
Some relatives of patients pay high amount of money to commercial vehicle operators to transport the sick over motorcycle, which further puts the life of the patient in more danger, to their referred destinations for medical care, he said.
Obiazi also expressed worry about the use of all manner of vehicles as ambulances because they were not for such purpose, and lacked equipment, “before you can call a vehicle an ambulance, it must have a bed and all the necessary medical equipment and medications with trained personnel to mount it.”
He said the hospital did not have the requisite requirements for ambulance services such as an office and residential accommodation for personnel, appliance bay and telephones, which were the requirements for ambulance service.