AMBULANCES FAIL M.O.T. - OPPOSITION VINDICATED

"...They demand ambulances which do not break down on the road; that are not laid up because they fail their MOT or have to be pushed started by the drivers or patient’s families...."

On the day the Minister of Health, Yvette Del Agua, tried to justify her response to the GSLP Liberals statement on the appalling state of the GHA’s emergency ambulance fleet it has emerged that two of these life saving vehicles have been taken off the road because they have failed their MOTs.

Despite the minister’s assurances that the emergency ambulances are well maintained they failed because they were losing oil and their brakes did not work properly.

This in itself would be serious enough but when added to Yvette Del Agua’s blindness to the serious problems in the GHA and its ambulance service and her crass response to the case of the Shadow Minister of Health’s baby daughter she is obviously no longer fit to be a minister.

The removal of the two emergency ambulances from the fleet of four means that Gibraltar over the weekend only has two eight year old vehicles from the St John’s Ambulance on duty. If there is a major incident or if two ambulances are already on call there will not be sufficient vehicles to respond to an emergency.

Gibraltarians are a down to earth people who pay their taxes and expect their government to provide an efficient health service which is serviced by a modern fleet of ambulances in return. They demand ambulances which do not break down on the road; that are not laid up because they fail their MOT or have to be pushed started by the drivers or patient’s families.

These problems have to be addressed and corrected as a matter of extreme urgency. Sadly the minister has failed her MOT and the arguments of the Opposition have been completely vindicated.