The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has kicked against plans by the government to amend the law prohibiting the use of motor cycles for commercial purpose.
According to them, such a move will only increase the spate of road accidents in the country.
The doctors at the end of its 2nd National Executive Council Meeting in Prampram in a statement said the country’s emergency facilities are already inundated with increasing numbers of victims of crashes involving motorcycles.
They asked the government and other interested groups pushing for the legalisation of the commercial use of motorcycles for passenger transport to proceed with extreme caution.
‘Okada’ is a motorcycle in Ghana, however, its commercial use, which is creating jobs for the teeming unemployed youth in the country, has given cause for the law banning it to be amended.
Members of Parliament have joined the calls arguing that, it is a major source of transportation in the hinterlands.
But, General Secretary of the GMA, Dr Justice Yankson in an interview on Adom News said such calls are unfortunate.
He explained that, the surge of ‘Okada’ is causing an increase in accidents.
The GMA General Secretary bemoaned how resources are spent to treat ‘Okada’ accident victims when they could be channeled to other sectors of the economy.
Dr Yankson urged the government to rather improve the transportation system in the area rather than regulate the illegal ‘Okada’ business.