"Only in Ghana": Outrage as Rural Health Workers Transport Referred Patient in Tricycle, 'Aboboyaa'
- Disturbing photos have exposed the severe, unsafe conditions rural patients face in the Northern Region
- Health workers at the Fame Health Centre in Tatindo, located within the Tatale-Sanguli District, were captured using a passenger tricycle to execute a critical emergency referral
- The desperate measure looks like an everyday reality, as the facility reportedly lacks operational access to the national ambulance fleet
The illusion of a robust, modernised national healthcare delivery system has been brutally shattered once again by raw, unfiltered visuals emerging from the country's northern sector.
Source: UGC
The dedicated medical staff at the newly commissioned Fame Health Centre in Tatindo have become the faces of rural sacrifice, navigating life-or-death emergencies with virtually zero state resources.
Nurse trends for transporting patient in aboboyaa
In the viral photographs that have triggered widespread condemnation, an unstable, acutely ill patient is seen lying horizontally across the cramped back seat of a standard commercial tricycle, commonly referred to as Aboboyaa or Mahama Cambodia.
A community nurse can be seen hovering over the patient, managing basic vitals under highly turbulent, unhygienic, and unsafe road conditions while traveling to a higher-tier district hospital.
This harrowing setup is not an isolated incident or an exception to the rule. Rather, it represents the default, everyday protocol for transferring critical cases.
However, as the reality at Tatindo proves, when the state fails to provide actual ambulances, these low-tier utility vehicles inevitably become dangerous, makeshift emergency beds.
The X video below shows how the nurses managed to transport the referred patient using an aboboyaa.
Reactions trail nurses transporting patient by aboboyaa
The viral images have provoked intense anger from Ghanaians, who are blasting political leaders for completely abandoning the regions outside Accra:
@beardonGod wrote a blistering critique:
"Our so-called leaders are living incredibly good lives in the capital city, driving V8's, and flying their families entirely outside Ghana whenever they need healthcare. Meanwhile, ordinary citizens keep suffering and dying in tricycles. God will punish these politicians from both sides."
@Na_naYaw_ commented in deep sorrow:
"When people say 'Ghana, Ghana,' they actually just mean Accra. The other regions and rural communities are wholly neglected, and it’s deeply sad. Your survival in this country literally depends on your geographical location."
@ananse__kwaku came to the defense of the staff:
"The community nurses working in these remote areas do far better than those general or diploma nurses relaxing in the city hospitals. They sacrifice daily with extremely limited means just to help poor patients survive, yet their salaries are meagre. This woman in the tricycle deserves a national award."
@brewed_satire shared a chilling reminder:
"This is a systemic failure. Just last week, a dedicated nurse tragically lost her life while riding a motorbike to procure basic medical supplies for her community. How long can our healthcare system run purely on individual sacrifice?"
@ElvisGyasi8 added despondently:
"We truly have a very long way to go as a continent. I am honestly starting to think there is nothing like real structural change coming to this country till thy kingdom come. It's exhausting."
Source: YEN.com.gh
