NPP Rejects Health Minister's Claim That Government Inherited a "Grounded" and Uninsured Ambulance Fleet

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has rejected claims by the Minister for Health, Hon. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, that the government inherited an ambulance fleet in which many vehicles were grounded and none was insured when it assumed office in January 2025.

In a statement issued by its Health Sector Policy Committee and dated September 16, 2026, the party described the Minister's account as misleading and an attempt to shift responsibility for the current challenges facing Ghana's emergency ambulance services onto the previous administration.

According to the NPP, the facts are clear:

The party said when the NPP government assumed office in 2017, Ghana's emergency ambulance system was virtually non-existent, with fewer than 55 semi-functioning ambulances. The NPP government subsequently undertook a major expansion of the National Ambulance Service, adding 331 ambulances to the fleet.

As part of that expansion, 307 ambulances procured in 2019 were insured by Enterprise Insurance, while Service Auto Group provided after-sales service and maintenance for all 307 vehicles. A further 24 ambulances procured subsequently were insured by SIC Insurance.

"These arrangements directly contradict any suggestion that the ambulance fleet inherited in January 2025 was simply an uninsured fleet left without maintenance support," the statement said.

The NPP further stated that it also trained almost 2,000 paramedics to support the National Ambulance Service and implemented the "One Constituency, One Ambulance" policy to ensure communities across the country had access to emergency medical transportation.

The party also expressed concern about the impression being created that the decision to procure an additional 100 ambulances originated with the current Minister for Health or the current administration.

"That is not the case. Plans for the procurement of another 100 ambulances had already commenced before Hon. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh assumed office. The current administration therefore cannot present the proposed procurement as an initiative that originated solely under its watch," the statement noted.

The NPP argued that the ambulance fleet requires continuous maintenance, servicing, insurance and replacement as vehicles age, and that this is precisely the responsibility of the administration in office.

"Government is a continuum. An administration inherits public assets together with the responsibility to maintain, repair, insure and improve them. If the current administration is experiencing challenges with vehicle availability and operational readiness, it should explain the steps it has taken to address those challenges rather than continually attributing them to the previous administration," it said.