Mr Kwame Apedzi, Chief Executive Officer, St John Ambulance, Ghana (SJAG) has called on Government to halt the operators of hearse services from embossing the Star of Life symbol on their vehicles.

He said the symbol could only be used by Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers or ambulance service providers.

He said the symbol symbolises life and not death and should, therefore, be used accordingly in order not to get the public confused over the true meaning of the symbol as hearses are not required to use it.

Mr Apedzi said this on Monday during an interview with Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of 78th Anniversary of SJAG.

He appealed to the Ministry of Education to include EMS or first aid education in the syllabus at the basic school level.

Mr Apedzi said when people are educated from their formative stages, simple life saving interventions such as how to give Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation , how to stop bleeding, what to do when one faints or chokes, would become apparent to them and help prevent avoidable deaths.

He said although the SJAG has been organising EMS education for basic schools, it could not cover all of them hence the need for such education to be incorporated into the school curriculum.

“Although, we know that the curriculum at the basic level is choked, we believe that since EMS can be used to save lives, it would be very helpful if it could be added to the curriculum for those at the basic level so that they can grow with that knowledge,” he suggested.

Mr Apedzi said because of the lack of knowledge on basic EMS provision or first aid by Ghanaians, many people continue to lose their lives when they could have been saved by very simple medical interventions.

He explained that SJAG, as a member of the Order of St John, a major international charitable organisation, focused on the alleviation of human suffering.

In collaboration with St John UK, he said, “we provide first aid services, disaster management preparedness, ambulance services, community health and youth development - by giving the youth skills acquisition platform”.

Mr Apedzi said SJAG was established in Ghana by the then colonial or British Police in 1937, with a governing council which was established by Act of Parliament (Act 57 of 1959).

He said for the past 78 years, it had rendered charitable services to humanity, trained millions of the workforce in first aid, provided emergency services to victims of disasters and first aid cover at national and corporate meetings.

“We have also hosted and trained employees of the National Ambulance Service and continue to provide professional development to our internal stakeholders,” he said.

Mr Apedzi said the lack of funding from the Ministry of Health, inadequate ambulances and training equipment are some of the major challenges facing SJAG.

On the organisation’s outlook, he expressed satisfaction with the rate at which people are embracing first aid and emergency medical service provisions and seeking training as well as requesting for professional services.

He expressed hope that SJAG would have its fair share of the ambulances that the Government is importing and supplying to agencies and departments.