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| Major Derrick Oduro(Retd) |
Nkoranza North Member of Parliament
and ex-military officer, Major Derrick Oduro (Retd) has urged the Ghana Armed
Forces to station a squadron of Air Force officers in the Ashanti Regional
capital, Kumasi to provide emergency services for the northern parts of
Ghana.
The station should have at least a
plane and a helicopter to serve as an air ambulance to transport victims of
accidents or natural disasters to the appropriate hospitals for treatment, he
adds.
Speaking on Adom TV's Pampaso on
Thursday evening, the former soldier said the death toll in Wednesday’s fatal
accident at Kintampo, wouldn’t have been that high if there had been air
ambulances to transport the victims to either the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital
in Kumasi or even Korle Bu in Accra.
The death toll is reported to have
increased to 63 in the accident which involved a Metro Mass Transit Bus (MMT)
and a KIA truck carrying tomatoes from Ouagadougou to Accra.
The accident occurred around 8pm Wednesday
at the Kintampo Waterfalls junction in the Brong Ahafo region.
The Ghana Armed Forces is part of
the National Disaster Management Organization and could have used its
helicopters among other airplanes to rescue the accident victims.
Recalling a personal experience when
he was a Staff Captain at the Military Academy and Training School, Major Oduro
said the swift arrival of an aircraft probably saved his life when he was
involved in an accident in the 90’s while on his way to Nkoranza in the night.
“I called Burma Camp at 1am to
inform them of my accident and my whereabouts and they informed me that they
were coming with a helicopter. The copter on the way had a technical fault but
my people managed to return the faulty helicopter and came with a Fokker
(airplane). When the ambulance I was driven in from the Ashanti Mampong
Hospital arrived at the (Kumasi) airport the Air Force plane with its engine
running was waiting for me to be moved” he said.
There were also three doctors at the
airport waiting to treat him.
It took them only thirty minutes to
arrive in Accra, he said.
“In fact I was really comforted by
the swift act. That is how everyone must be treated” the Nkoranza North MP
stated.
He called on the Interior Ministry,
Defense Ministry, NADMO and National Security to consider his suggestion, work
on it and make it a reality.
Pampaso is hosted by Kofi Adoma
Nwanwani.
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Source: Adomonline
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