The National Ambulance Service(NAS) has reminded the public that Ambulance vehicles are strictly for emergency medical cases—not for transporting corpses.
Mr.Michael Gaani, Eastern Regional Manager of NAS who also serves as President of the Emergency Medical Technicians Association of Ghana (EMTAG) decried that members of the public particularly church leaders usually come to the office to request their vehicles to transport their corpses for burial .
“There is misconception about ambulance services and that of hearse services. We have made it clear that when we say an ambulance it is a vehicle Pursposively designed to carry the sick and the injured whereas a hearse is designed to carry dead bodies or corpse. So with this education we believe that members can now deferentiate between what an Ambulance is and especially the national Ambulance Service what it does”.
He added “So Basically Ambulance Service or Emergency Services are purely first aid there is no any corpse carrying dead body carrying. I have had churches because of the word Ambulance it connotes what we know in Africa as a hearse so they come they say may be we have a church member who has passed on we need your service to carry the corpse may be to the funeral grounds or whatever they want to carry the body to ” Gaani explained.
He said this during an engagement with the Pentecost International Worship Centre (PIWC) in Koforidua on Sunday.
The outreach program, led by the Eastern Regional Office of the Ghana National Ambulance Service, aimed to raise awareness about emergency response and equip congregants with essential first aid knowledge and life-saving skills.
Congregants were trained in basic emergency procedures such as CPR, how to manage bleeding, and how to respond effectively before paramedics arrive.
He explained how Ambulance Service operates—including how to place emergency calls and the crucial details to provide.
The core mandate of the National Ambulance Service is to provide efficient and timely pre-hospital care to the sick and injured.
Source : Obed Kojo Ansah
