Simmons Kewura
Deputy Director, Public Relations, National Ambulance Service, Simmons Kewura, has clarified that the deceased Asante Kotoko supporter, Francis Yaw Frimpong, popularly known as Nana Pooley who passed away following the violent clash between Kotoko and Nsoatreman FC was given prompt emergency care at the incident scene.
Speaking in an exclusive interview, Mr. Kewura indicated that the statement that the ambulance service at the scene was reluctant to administer care to the deceased supporter and some injured persons during the violent clash is untrue.
“During the incident, our ambulance crew was on the field administering first aid services to the injured person on the field. Later they were hinted that someone was stabbed with a knife, and quickly they moved to the site to treat him,” he said.
Mr. Kewura emphasized that at the time the Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) administered the Emergency Medical Service to Nana Pooley at the entrance of the football field he was live and was placed in the ambulance for intensive care at the Nsoatreman Polyclinic.
“At the time we were transporting Nana Pooley, he was alive, in fact on our way we gave him oxygen and another emergency service to sustain him till we got him to the clinic. He handed him over to the workers at the clinic alive. Around 7:00 we heard the news that the supporter had passed on,” he said.
Mr. Kewura said there is a need to educate citizens on basic first aid techniques, stressing that, “if the people around knew something about how to administer some first aid techniques in emergency cases the situation would have been different.”
He also assured that the ambulance service will carry on with its nationwide sensitization programme on basic emergency life techniques to help reverse any unforeseen tragedies.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Police Service has arrested six persons in connection to the death of Nana Pooley. An intelligence-led operation is still underway to apprehend the remaining perpetrators to ensure they face justice.
BY Prince Fiifi Yorke