National Ambulance In Freak Accident

A National Ambulance Service (NAS) vehicle conveying a sick person from Akyem Swedru to Akosombo got involved in an accident in Oda last Monday afternoon. The sick person and his caretaker in the ambulance had to be rushed to the Oda Government Hospital for treatment, before they were later transferred to the Volta River Authority (VRA) Hospital at Akosombo, where the former was originally billed to receive specialist attention. Briefing the Daily Graphic in Oda shortly after the accident, a health officer who gave his name only as Kennedy and who was accompanying the sick person to Akosombo, said last Monday afternoon the management of the Oda NAS had a distress call from health staff of the Akyem Swedru Catholic Health Centre to convey a man whose condition was critical to the VRA Hospital at Akosombo for specialist attention. He said the ambulance set off around 2:45 p.m. from Akyem Swedru with five persons, comprising the sick man, his caretaker, two health officers and the driver. According to Kennedy, on reaching Oda around 3 p.m., an official of the Oda branch of Barclays Bank, Mrs Naomi Toffey, who was driving a Toyota Tundra pick-up, with registration number GT-3808-10, suddenly joined the main Oda-Accra road without watching whether another vehicle was on the main road. He said the ambulance driver swerved to avoid running into the Toyota vehicle but because he was speeding, the vehicle ran into a gutter, resulting in serious damage to the ambulance, with its front axle completely broken. Kennedy said the pick-up also had its right side damaged, as the ambulance hit that side. The Station Officer of the Oda Fire Station, Mr Ismail Mohammed, who led a team of firemen to convey the sick person and his caretaker to the Oda Government Hospital, said it took the team and other volunteers more than three hours to remove the damaged vehicle from the gutter and tow it to an auto repair shop for repairs.