(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –The second stage of Sri Lanka’s first fully fledged free pre-hospital care ambulance service will be launched nationwide on Saturday, July 21st in Jaffna.
The second stage of the 1990 Suvaseriya Ambulance Service will be expanded by 209 more units with a grant of US$ 15 million from India and 55 of those units today left the DIMO Technologies, Weliweriya for Jaffna to take part in Saturday’s launch.
By December the free emergency ambulance service will be expanded with 297 units and cover all citizens and tourists, State Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs Dr. Harsha De Silva said.
The service was launched with US$ 7.55 financial assistance from the Indian Government in July 2016. In the first stage currently implemented only in the Western and Southern provinces 88 ambulances with 600 Sri Lankan staff were utilized in service.
Sri Lankan medical service personnel have been trained with Indian support to effectively utilize the state-of-the art medical equipment of these ambulances.
Ambulance service can be obtained by simply dialing toll free no “1990” on any network in Sri Lanka. Upon receiving the call the ambulance will take the patient to the nearest hospital under the care of a trained emergency medical technician.
By now, nearly 100,000 patients have been assisted by the ambulance service and more than 30 babies have been born in the ambulances.
Suvaseriya service is credited for reducing the number of deaths by servicing heart attack patients, accident victims, and pregnant mothers.
