Abel hands over fire trucks, ambulances to state agencies

FINANCE and Rural Development Minister Charles Abel handed over 13 fire trucks and 22 ambulances to State agencies and organisations as part of the Apec asset disposal exercise.
The trucks and ambulances were donated by the People’s Republic of China and Japanese International Cooperation Agency (Jica) for the 2018 Apec summit.
“I want to thank the governments of Japan and the People’s Republic of China for the vehicles that we are passing on today,” he said.
“I’m happy that most of the ambulances will go to St John Ambulance.
“We very much value everything they do.
“They provide an invaluable service to the people and I’m glad that they will receive eight of them.
“Gerehu and Port Moresby General Hospital will receive two each.”
The other 10 ambulances will be allocated to provincial health authorities using the Health Department’s star rating system.
The fire trucks were handed over to the PNG Fire Service which will decide who to allocate them to.
“We want to ensure that the vehicles do not sit for too long at the (Port Moresby) wharf because they are deteriorating,” Abel said.
Finance Secretary Dr Ken Ngangan said the donors had requested that the vehicles be donated to agencies.
Chief Fire Officer Bill Roo thanked the donor agencies and the Government for the fire trucks.
St John Ambulance PNG assistant commissioner Rigona Rita said they attended to almost 3000 cases in the past three months and the extra vehicles would help them serve the people better.