The Ministry of Health has raised concerns about the mismanagement of ambulances.
According to statistics by the Ministry, there are 178 functional ambulances and 50 are run by the local governments against the set target of 460 ambulances.
But, even the few that are available are riddled with concerns of not just poor management but bad maintenance which has often put the ministry on spot.
For instance, last week, an ambulance with a patient on board caught fire leaving three dead in Bunyangabu district, and early this year an ambulance was spotted transporting pineapples in Ntugamo district.
Speaking on Tuesday at the flagging off of six new ambulances to the districts of Ntungamo, Wakiso, Lira, Kanungu, Manafwa, and Omoro, the Health Minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng said that the government still struggles to have an ambulance per district to bridge a huge gap of emergency services in many areas.
Commenting about the Bunyangabu accident, Aceng says that they are waiting for a police report to understand what exactly happened. END.