Non-Governmental Organisation, Moving Health has donated five tricycle ambulances to five outlandish communities in the Sissala East municipality to aid in their emergency services.
The tricycle ambulances also known as the Sissala East tricycle are tricycles, fabricated and redesigned in to ambulances using local people and materials.
The beneficiary communities are Kong, Nabugbelle, Nabulo, Sakai and Bawiisibelle.
At the re-launch of the newly designed ambulances, Chief Executive Officer of Moving Heath, Isaac Amoah Quansah noted that apart from the tricycle ambulances working to reduce maternal deaths in the municipality, it will also improve the local economy of the area.
We also use the manufacturing of the ambulances as a way of transferring engineering knowledge to the people.
The tricycle ambulances are made from the Sissala community and by indigenes of the area. Through that we are able to empower them economically to solve their problems,” he revealed
Issaac Amoah Quansah further revealed that the new design of the tricycles was based on a feedback they got from the communities after initially starting with five tricycles on a pilot base.
He said the design of the new tricycle ambulances brought along more space, retractable stretcher that can be removed or taken in to the ambulance easily, better ventilation and better lightening system.
Another characteristic of the newly designed tricycle ambulance is the thermal insulation that prevents heat from entering the ambulance and above all it is robust and can stand the weather conditions of the northern belt of the country.
The increasing cases of maternal deaths in the Sissala enclave in time past has been attributed to inadequate emergency services in the area.
Residents often struggle to transport seriously sick persons or women who are in labour at outlandish communities to hospitals on time for medical attention sometimes resulting in their deaths.
Country director for Virtue Foundation, Mohammed Issa Bataglia recounted one of many instances that he has to yield to please from stranded family members of women who are in labour to transport them with his car to the Sissala East municipal hospital at Tumu.
Worried about the incident, he quickly connected with moving health, a nongovernmental organization that has a mixture of social health workers and engineers who comes together to fabricate affordable emergency transportation for rural areas in Ghana.
Moving health has been working in the Sissala enclave since 2019 and provided the first tricycle ambulances in 2021 to five communities on a pilot base.
Some concerns were however raised in the usage of the first tricycle ambulance by the residents in a feedback and data collected by moving health and presented by its development lead, Stephane Mmaju.
”They told us that they were not comfortable, felt unsafe, worried pain, stressed and tired. For us moving heath, we want to make sure that the emergency transport service we are providing is comfortable, affordable and accessible to anyone who want to use it irrespective of one’s social economic status,” she posited
Co-founder of Moving Health and one of the lead engineers for the manufacturing of the ambulances, Emily Young is happy with her association with the project.
”As engineers we always wants to keep on improving out engineering work and we are excited about what will come in the future. But right now we are extremely proud and excited about these ambulances
Despite the feet chalked, Emily Yong is not oblivious of the challenges encountered right at the start.
”It has taken a long time to get here, the local manufacturing process we have been doing a lot of research and development in to the right materials, where are we supplying them from, what are the fabrication processes, where are the many fabricating techniques they want to use and what do we need to so that these ambulances can be made in Ghana and be made in Sissala land,” he stated.
With the successful re-launch of the tricycle ambulance at Tumu, moving health in June will be partnering with another organization in the Wa East district for similar venture.
Upper West regional coordinator of the Northern Development Authority (NDA), Maria Johanna commended moving health for the initiative.
He added that her outfit had 23 of similar tricycles in their possession and had already started talks with moving health collaborate with the moving heath to learn and to see how they can use the ambulances to improve health care in only communities in the Sissala areas but the northern gulf of the country as well
Moving health also use the opportunity to donate a table top fridge and desk top computer to the national ambulance service to aid in their work. Ghana National Fire Service also received a table top fridge
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