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Indian aid to expand ambulance service islandwide
View(s):India will grant US$20 million to expand the free ambulance service islandwide within an year.
The money will cover the cost of a new fleet of 215 ambulances as well as the salaries of 1,500 people who will be employed for the service, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Harsha De Silva said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the expansion of the ambulance service when he addressed members of the estate community at the Norwood Grounds in Hatton. The ambulance service currently operates in the Western and Southern provinces.
The Deputy Minister said that at the end of the year when the Indian funding ends, the service would operate with funds from the Treasury. “We would need to have a mechanism in place to keep the ambulance service running,” he said.
The Deputy Minister who met the Indian Prime Minister at the departure lounge of the airport on Friday said he had extended his gratitude to the Indian Government for helping out with the service which had become a boon to many people in the country.
At present there are 89 ambulances that operate with 570 personnel. The programme began with a grant from India of US$7.5 million.
Since its commencement in 2016, the ambulance service has clocked in more than 20,000 transfers of patients including those suffering from heart attacks, accident victims and maternity cases while 13 of these ambulances also operated during the Meethotamulla tragedy transferring patients.