Mahama: 100 New Ambulances Coming, 100 Broken Ones to Be Fixed

President John Dramani Mahama has announced that the government will buy 100 new ambulances for the National Ambulance Service and find the spare parts needed to bring another 100 broken-down ambulances back into service, in a major boost for emergency healthcare across Ghana.

He made the announcement at the 68th Annual National General Conference of the Ghana Medical Association, held at Miotso near Prampram in the Greater Accra Region on Friday, November 6, 2026. “We will therefore purchase 100 new ambulances and procure the parts required to bring another 100 ambulances back into service,” he said, according to the Ghana News Agency.

The conference was held under the theme “The No Bed Syndrome: Reimagining a Befitting Emergency Response System for Ghana”, a subject doctors say reflects the daily struggle of patients turned away from overcrowded emergency units. GhanaGuardian reports that the President told the gathering the two moves together could add 200 ambulances to the emergency fleet. He had earlier ordered the expansion of emergency units at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Tamale Teaching Hospital and the 37 Military Hospital, Chale News reported.

For families outside Accra, the promise matters most. When an ambulance is unavailable or broken down, accident victims, pregnant women and patients in critical condition often depend on taxis, private cars or sheer luck to reach a hospital in time.

No delivery date, cost or distribution plan for the new vehicles has been disclosed, and the same applies to the repairs. Chale News notes that Ghanaians will now watch for the procurement timeline and for whether the grounded ambulances actually return to the roads.

The ambulance announcement came with a second health pledge. President Mahama said Ghana is being weaned off the Gavi vaccine support programme and will pay for all its own vaccines by 2030, up from the roughly half it funds today, according to the Ghana News Agency.

The Vaultz News reports that the President has put GH¢22.8 billion behind an integrated healthcare system linking the Free Primary Health Care Programme, the uncapped National Health Insurance Scheme and the Ghana Medical Trust Fund, known as MahamaCares.

He also pointed to hospital projects now moving. Construction is expected to resume shortly on the 509-bed maternity and children’s block at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, while a new 400-bed maternity and children’s block has begun at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, GhanaGuardian reports.

A new 100-bed Tamale Police Hospital will open soon, the 160-bed La General Hospital is due for completion next year, and work will resume on the Afari Military Hospital. The government is also preparing 35 Agenda 111 hospitals for completion, each at least 70 per cent complete, although existing contracts are being reviewed by the Attorney-General’s Department before the projects are re-awarded, GhanaGuardian reports. The 2027 Budget also includes GH¢200 million for the Police Hospital expansion, which will raise its capacity to 300 beds.

On specialist care, the President spoke at the commissioning of the cardiac catheterisation laboratory at Korle Bu, with similar centres under construction at Komfo Anokye and Tamale. He said Ghana needed three such laboratories, after expressing regret over the death of a medical doctor who could not access one. He also announced mobile clinics fitted with dental equipment, saying dentists would move from community to community, and a feasibility study of sewage systems at major public hospitals to stop medical waste draining into water bodies, according to the Ghana News Agency.

AON_news feedback-opera-news-app@opera.com