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The National Ambulance Service (NAS) in Greater Accra has raised alarm over a sharp rise in prank emergency calls, revealing that it records approximately 5,000 false alerts every month.
Speaking on Breakfast Daily on Channel One TV on Friday, February 20, the Greater Accra Regional Manager of the Service, Daniel Asare, said the surge in prank calls is placing significant pressure on operations.
According to him, the high volume of false alerts creates congestion at the dispatch centre and disrupts prompt responses to genuine emergencies. However, he noted that policy requires the Service to respond to every call received.
“Prank calls normally happen when you raise a false alarm. There’s no emergency, but you are calling that somebody is lying somewhere, so the ambulance service should come in. In a month, we can get about 5,000 prank calls at the dispatch centre,” he explained.
Mr. Asare also highlighted instances where individuals misuse the emergency line for inappropriate or non-critical requests.
“Some people will call and say, ‘Oh, I’ve eaten, and I’m tired, come and pick me to the hospital.’ Others even call to check whether we have reported for duty,” he said.
He appealed to the public to use the emergency lines responsibly and only in genuine life-threatening situations.
“Anytime we get a credible platform like this, we want to advise the general public that they should only call when there is an emergency,” he added.
