This Emergency Ambulance Service has been launched with the aim of transferring a person who had faced an accident or fallen sick to a hospital within a few minutes.

The new service has been launched as a grant of the Indian Government following a request made by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Indian Government has incurred an expenditure of 7.2 million US Dollars on this programme. It also fulfils an election pledge of the Good Governance administration.
88 ambulances have been deployed for this service under the patronage of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe, under the first stage. These ambulances were handed over to the Prime Minister by India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Y.K. Sinha.
“In a video message delivered in Colombo to coincide with the launch of an emergency ambulance service. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India’s Development Cooperation with Sri Lanka is based on the choices and priorities set by the people, the leadership and the Government of Sri Lanka.
He said the partnership between India’s capacities and Sri Lanka’s needs is not only touching the lives of the people, it also shows the path of constructive regional cooperation.
Modi said the project is important as it will help save lives and would add to Sri Lanka’s capacities for delivering emergency healthcare.”
The new service will be initially operative within the Southern Province. It is thereafter planned to be expanded to cover the other Provinces. The service can be obtained free of charge through the 1990 hotline.

The programme provides job opportunities to 250 medical technicians who had undergone training in the supply of emergency services in India and 550 Sri Lankans.

Minister Parliament Reforms and Mass Media Gayantha Karunathilaka, Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Rajitha Senarathne, High Commissioner of India Y.K. Sinha and Deputy Foreign Minister Harsha de Silva took part in the event.