<<Print>>

Paramedics and emergency medical technicians with the National Ambulance Service (NAS) have been challenged to strive for excellence in their profession.

The Chief Executive Officer of the NAS, Professor Ahmed Nuhu Zakaria, who challenged the officials, said people’s lives often depended on the quick reaction and competent care of emergency medical technicians and paramedics.

“Accidents as varied as automobile accidents, heart attacks, slips and falls, childbirth and gunshot wounds require immediate medical attention. Paramedics and emergency medical technicians provide this vital service as they care for and transport the sick or injured to a medical facility,” he explained.

He was speaking at the end of a two-week training in Accra for 45 paramedics and emergency medical technicians of the NAS and three officers of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO).

The workshop, organised by the NAS in collaboration with the North Dakota Department of Health (NDDH) in the United States of America (USA), was to enable the participants to serve as trainers who would train other selected personnel of NAS.

The Regional Bilateral Affairs Officer of the US Embassy in Ghana, Togo and Benin, Major Mark McEvers, led a team of medical officers who shared their experiences to build  the capacity of the NAS personnel.

To give the paramedics the best training, the resource persons set up real life scenarios.

Major McEvers for his part, expressed satisfaction with the relationship between the NAS and NDDH, saying that it would go a long way to boost the competence level of personnel from Ghana’s Ambulance Service.

Saving lives 

Prof. Zakaria said the training would go a long way to assist the officers of the service to deliver on their mandate to save lives.

Since 2004, Prof. Zakariah said NAS had been trying to build an effective Emergency Medical Service system for Ghana.

The NAS currently boasts 1, 700 emergency medical technicians across the country. 

The trainers who would sit a written examination would also be given certificates of recognition which meet international standards.