Mr. Jacob Aleeba, the Dormaa East District Director of Health Services on Thursday justified the use of a tricycle to provide ambulance services at a Community Health Planning Service (CHPS) Compound at ‘Pepra Shed’, a farming community in the District

He said the idea to use the tricycle was mooted by the local health committee with the approval of the residents of the community to enhance emergency health service delivery.

Mr. Aleeba was responding to a question at a Meet the Press event organised by the Dormaa East Assembly to update the populace on development projects being implemented in the District under the government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at Wamfie in the Bono Region.

It was attended by a number of New Patriotic Party activists, traditional rulers, traders, students, public/civil servants, Assembly Members, the media and the public.

Mr Aleeba stated that the tricycle ambulance would complement the services of the National Ambulance Service in the area, because “if someone calls the National Ambulance and another person needs its service at a different place at the same time, this is where the tricycle ambulance can be of good use,” the District Health Director explained.

Mr. Aleeba said “it is lawful and permissible for the community to find an emergency transport system in their quest to provide healthcare for indigenes in the area, but not a question of whether a substandard equipment is being used as an ambulance”.

He further indicated that challenges of the CHPS Compound were aggravated by inaccessible and unmotorable roads, which made it difficult for commercial vehicles to operate on such roads.

Consequently the provision of the tricycle ambulance would greatly help for the timely access to emergency health services, Mr. Aleeba said, and added that until recently the CHPS facility relied on the service of a private vehicle which now has a ‘for sale’ tag placed on it by its owner.

The ambulance was procured by the Dormaa East Assembly after the staff of the CHPS Compound had decided to organise a fund raising for the purchase of health items and equipment to provide quality healthcare service to the community.