Only four (4) out of a total of eighteen (18) Embu County ambulances are operational to serve a population of 600,000 people, the County Assembly has heard.

In a report by the Embu County Assembly’s Implementation Committee, the House was informed that ten ambulances were in serviceable condition, but most had been held in various garages within Embu town for more than ten years due to lack of payment for minor repairs like brake failure.

Muminji MCA Newton Kariuki — while moving a motion to compel the Health County Executive Committee (CEC) Member Jamal Runyenje to take immediate action to ensure that all ambulances are serviced — painted a grim picture of how patients from far flung areas currently rely on costly private transport.

The committee’s report originated from a fact-finding tour of all health facilities within Embu County to establish the status of ambulances, the competence of the drivers assigned to them as well as availability of healthcare providers to accompany patients referred to other hospitals.

Several Ward Representatives lamented over the County Government’s neglect of the vehicles that offer critical services after observing that most grounded ambulances required less than KSh30,000 to get back to active service, but remained in garages for many years, therefore accruing storage charges.

In the report, the Assembly also learnt that some ambulances had been vandalised over the years they had overstayed in garages.

Further, the MCAs demanded that the Health CEC Member should ensure that there are enough funds allocated in future annual budgets for repairs and maintenance of the ambulances to avoid grounding due to lack of enough budgetary allocation for repairs and maintenance.

Some of the Ward Reps expressed doubts of the existence of some ambulances in the county, with some said to have disappeared in the hands of unscrupulous mechanics, while others were said to be parked in private residences with no inventory to indicate that they were owned by the County Government.