President John Dramani Mahama says government is procuring 100 new ambulances for the National Ambulance Service and will buy spare parts to put another 100 broken-down ambulances back on the road.

He made the announcement at the 68th Annual National General Conference of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) at Miotso near Prampram in the Greater Accra Region. The week-long meeting is themed “The No Bed Syndrome: Reimagining a Befitting Emergency Response System for Ghana.” Citi Newsroom reports the remarks were delivered on Friday, November 6; Graphic Online carried the GNA report on Monday, November 9.

Key facts

  • Mahama said: “We will therefore purchase 100 new ambulances and procure the parts required to bring another 100 ambulances back into service.”
  • Once the new vehicles are acquired and the broken-down ones restored, the intervention is expected to add a combined 200 ambulances to emergency services, according to Citi Newsroom.
  • The President also said GH¢200 million has been allocated in the 2027 Budget to complete the long-delayed Police Hospital expansion, raising that hospital’s capacity to 300 beds.
  • Work has started on a new 400-bed maternity and children’s block at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. Mahama said he had been “praying every night” that the current block used by mothers and children “does not collapse” before the new one is finished.

Background

The ambulance pledge sits inside a broader health-infrastructure push Mahama outlined to the GMA. He said financial support for specialised care must come with the capacity to deliver that care in Ghana. The Ghana Medical Trust Fund, he said, is beginning support for selected serious conditions, starting with cancers, while investment in specialised training and facilities continues.

He pointed to the cardiac catheterisation laboratory he recently commissioned at Korle Bu and to cardiology centres under construction at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) and Tamale Teaching Hospital. He said government was working towards three such facilities after a doctor was lost for lack of access to a catheterisation laboratory.

On organ transplantation, he said work was underway on a framework and an organ transplantation Bill, covering consent, donor protection, oversight and ongoing care, drawing on the GMA and specialists.

Other projects he listed include completing the 509-bed maternity and children’s block at KATH, which stalled because of Ghana’s debt defaults and subsequent restructuring — with the contractor expected to remobilise shortly — and operationalising the Ashanti Regional Hospital at Sewua, where roadworks and electricity are done and a water pipeline is ongoing. When completed, he said, Sewua should ease pressure on KATH.

He also said a new 100-bed Tamale Police Hospital would open soon, the 160-bed La General Hospital would be completed next year, and work would resume next year on the Afari Military Hospital in the Ashanti Region. Government is also packaging 35 Agenda 111 hospitals that have reached at least 70% completion for re-award, with the Attorney-General’s Department reviewing the contracts.

What's next

The immediate test is whether the National Ambulance Service actually receives the new vehicles and spare parts, and how quickly the 100 broken-down units return to service. That timeline was not spelled out in the reported remarks.

Alongside the fleet, government has also flagged Accident and Emergency expansions at major hospitals — covered earlier by GhEcho in reporting on the Ghana Armed Forces Critical Care Hospital and no-bed measures. Whether 200 extra ambulances ease waits will depend on staffing, dispatch and bed capacity once the vehicles are on the road.