Governor Barasa assured Kakamega residents they would benefit from uninterrupted and quality services following the agreement.
“My priority is to ensure there’s full access to health services. In this new five-year contract with the Red Cross, we will have new ambulances replacing the old ones. The new ambulances will be working 24 hours 7 days a week without interruption,” Barasa said.
Gullet said their ambulances have responded to 60, 000 emergency calls in the county in the last ten years. He said they have since replaced an entire fleet that had served the maximum five-year lifespan.
“The kind of agreement we have is that when the car serves for five years or covers 150,000 kilometres, it will be recycled and a new one deployed,” he said
He said county governments can either purchase ambulances or outsource services.
“The problem in Kenya is not equipment or material but management. This is why some counties outsource the emergency services to limit service disruption caused by management issues on their fleets,” he said.
“I want to thank Governor Barasa for allowing the over 2 million residents of Kakamega to get quality ambulance services because we cannot equate life with money,” he said.
He said the presence of life support ambulances will enable pregnant women to deliver on their way to the hospital. Emergency care will also be given as patients are rushed to the hospital.
In 2015, the county contracted Kenya Red Cross Emergency Plus to provide free ambulance services for patients needing urgent medical care.
