EHS gets new ambulances this week

THE EMERGENCY Health Service (EHS) will receive the first batch of new ambulances this week from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). This was revealed yesterday by Health Minister John Rahael. The Minister indicated that the first batch of seven or eight ambulances arrived in the country last month and will be formally handed over to the EHS later this week.  Their arrival forms part of an agreement signed between Government and the UNDP to provide 40 brand new ambulances to the EHS and Rahael’s predecessor, Colm Imbert, was a major driving force behind that agreement.

Imbert accused the former UNC government of purchasing second-hand ambulances for the EHS and allowing the Service to deteriorate. UNC chairman Wade Mark admitted that while the former regime did purchase second-hand ambulances, it was the PNM which caused the EHS to deteriorate. At the handing over ceremony of four medical vehicles to the Trinidad and Tobago Red Cross by Spanish energy company Repsol YPF last Tuesday, Rahael announced Government’s plan to create a National Emergency Ambulance Authority (NEAA) that would coordinate a national emergency service that would include land, air and sea emergency responses. He said the ambulances together with the monthly arrival of diagnostic equipment for the nation’s hospitals (from January to April) into TT are key elements in the Ministry’s efforts to provide health care givers with the necessary tools to ensure that the population receives quality health care.

Rahael also indicated that this week, the Ministry will be checking up on the progress of ten indigent persons who recently underwent open heart surgery which was paid for by the State. In terms of health legislation, Rahael said the most pressing one was an amendment to the Regional Health Authorities (RHA) Act which would allow public servants in the health sector to move across to the RHAs.