The Indian Government has agreed to provide 100 new ambulances to Sri Lanka’s 1990 Suwa Seriya National Emergency Ambulance Service, along with a financial grant of Rs. 1.72 billion, aimed at enhancing its operational capacity and improving service quality.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) related to the grant was signed and exchanged in Colombo on Tuesday (11), on the sidelines of the first BIMSTEC Health Ministers’ Meeting.
The agreement was signed by Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Santosh Jha and Secretary to the Ministry of Health and Mass Media, Specialist Dr. Anil Jasinghe, in the presence of Minister of Health and Mass Media Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa and India’s Minister of Health and Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda.
The Indian Government agreed to provide the grant following a special request made by the Sri Lankan Government.
The primary objective of the initiative is to strengthen the Suwa Seriya ambulance fleet and reduce emergency response times to less than 10 minutes, enabling ambulances to reach patients requiring urgent medical attention more quickly.
The 1990 Suwa Seriya ambulance service was launched in Sri Lanka in July 2016 with financial assistance from the Indian Government. Under the first phase, 88 ambulances were provided through a grant of US$ 7.5 million, initially covering the Western and Southern Provinces.
In 2018, the service was expanded islandwide with the addition of another 209 ambulances under an additional grant of US$ 15.02 million.
Since assuming office, the present Government has placed special emphasis on strengthening the administration, operations and infrastructure of the Suwa Seriya service, which plays a vital role in the country's emergency pre-hospital care system.
As part of these efforts, steps have also been taken to establish the service's head office at a new location to streamline administrative operations and reduce government expenditure.
The latest grant for 100 ambulances is expected to further strengthen the 1990 Suwa Seriya service and enhance the emergency response capacity of Sri Lanka's healthcare system.
