Church Donation Renovates Ghana Emergency Dispach Center

The Ghana National Ambulance Service (NAS) welcomed the donation of a renovated and refurbished Emergency Dispatch Center on 4 April, 2025. Thanks to funding provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and through the efforts The Hunger Project (THP), the renovated facility in the city of Koforidua now has state-of-the-art tools to dispatch and track ambulance service in the Eastern Region of Ghana.

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The Church’s donation funded the renovation of the dispatch center, including putting a new roof on it, providing air conditioning, furnishing office equipment, and fixing up the resting quarters for the people that staff the dispatch center 24/7.  The donation also provided funds for new computers, software, large-screen monitor dashboards, and tracking hardware to help dispatchers monitor calls and ambulances sent out to serve the public, and it funded the purchase of five Modified Motorized Tricycle Ambulances (MMTAs). The donation was part of the Church’s ongoing efforts to improve health conditions for residents of the remote rural villages in Ghana, and particularly to bolster maternity and newborn care.

The MMTAs are all-terrain mini-ambulances that can reach communities where traditional ambulances can’t.  After picking up the patient, the MMTAs transport them to a location where a full-sized, full-service ambulance can take over and transport the patient to the hospital.  The newly refurbished dispatch center, with its new equipment, coordinates the activities of all the respondents in the various communities.  It can now interact with the mini- and full-sized ambulances, electronically tracking where each is and directing them to exchange points, whereas previously, all this was attempted manually.

Referencing the Church’s donation in his comments at the handover ceremony, Mr. Michael Gaani, Manager of the Eastern Region of Ghana’s National Ambulance Service, told the audience that “Any support that comes to enhance our activities is support we don’t take lightly and we appreciate you very much. We know you have to channel resources to other projects, but bringing the resources to support the National Ambulance Service to improve maternal care is something we actually do appreciate so very much.”

President Desmond Anom Osei, president of the Koforidua Ghana Stake, referenced James 2:8 saying, “‘If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well.’  So today we are here to fulfill the law that every Christian is supposed to fill to help the children of God. This is what the Church stands for, to help our neighbors. Helping the ambulance service is not helping the company, we are helping the individuals.”

Dr. John Ekow Otoo, Deputy Director of Public Health for Ghana’s Eastern Region, summed up the feelings of other officials present regarding the donation and the project: “I want to add my voice as a representative of the Ghana Health Service to say thank you for the support you are giving to the National Ambulance Service. It is to the National Ambulance Service, but it is to all of us Ghanaians, and it is really going to be a game changer. So once again, thank you The Hunger Project, thank you The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”