A Hundai Starex Ambulance with registration number GX-1253-15, worth GH¢ 350,000 has been donated to the Kulungungu Health Centre in the Pusiga District of the Upper East Region.

Mr Abdul Fuseini Tahiru, a businessman and native of the area based in Accra, donated the ambulance to the health centre to help the people to access quality health services without difficulties.

Presenting the ambulance last Tuesday, Mr Tahiru said he was responding to the need of the community so that cases of referrals would be transported quickly for medical attention.

“I decided to get an ambulance for the health centre so as to help promote health delivery services, such as maternal referrals among others, as transportation was the major threat to health delivery in the area.”

Mr Tahiru recounted how he struggled when he was growing up in poverty, disease and intimidations and said he thought there was the need for him to assist the younger and less privileged ones so they would not go through the same suffering.

He said one worry that runs through his mind was how women suffered during pregnancy until they went into labour, and that he said, pushed him to secure the ambulance to help carry the women to the various health care institutions whenever they needed it.

He called on the chiefs and people of the area to see the vehicle as their asset and maintain it in order for it to last long and serve its purpose.

Mr Hypolite Yeledour, Director of Health Services for the Pusiga District, received the ambulance and assured that it would be used for its intended purpose.

He noted that the ambulance would serve a population of 12,844 in the Kulungungu and the Kultamase sub-districts, who otherwise would not have access to ambulance services in the district.

Mr Yeledour commenting on the situation at the district directorate said it had no accommodation and service delivery office and that had become a major challenge retarding the work of the Directorate.

He indicated that the Kulungungu Health Center had 22 staff comprising both clinical and public health practitioners with only six rooms, which were not habitable for use.

Mr Yeledour called on the Ghana Health Service, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Philanthropists to help the office.

Madam Beatrice Yaro, Medical Assistant in-charge of the Centre, commended the donor, saying the ambulance was a great relief especially to pregnant women.

Madam Yaro said with the presence of the ambulance, referral cases at night would be a thing of the past as maternal cases were becoming rampant in the area.

She lamented on the poor conditions of service in the facility, which included lack of beds and mattresses that pose a problem to patients who were admitted to the center.