India to provide more ambulances to Sri Lanka emergency service

Colombo, Nov 11 (PTI) India on Wednesday signed a pact with Sri Lanka to supply 100 additional ambulances to the island nation's emergency service with grant assistance of USD 5.28 million, the Indian mission here said.

     The grant was signed and a Memorandum of Understanding was exchanged in the presence of Health Minister J P Nadda.

     The India-assisted ambulance services were initially launched in July 2016 in Sri Lanka's Western and Southern Provinces under a grant assistance of USD 7.5 million. It included the provision of 88 ambulances, their operational expenditure for a year and the setting up of an emergency response centre.

     In July 2018, it was expanded country-wide by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, with an additional grant of USD 15.02 million, covering 209 ambulances, their operational expenses and training costs.

     The latest expansion will add 100 ambulances to the existing fleet of 322 vehicles operated by the country's free emergency ambulance service, known as 1990 Suwa Seriya.

     The service was established following a request by the Sri Lankan government during Modi's visit to the island in March 2015.

     It is estimated to respond to 1,000 to 1,200 patient-transfer calls daily, providing free emergency medical transport across the country.

     In a post on X, the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka called it a "shining example of India–Sri Lanka development partnership delivering tangible benefits to people".

     Health Minister Nadda is in Sri Lanka to attend the first BIMSTEC Health Ministers' Meeting in Colombo on Wednesday.

     BIMSTEC, the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, is a regional grouping of seven countries -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)