Govt. rolls out groundbreaking free Emergency Ambulance Service ‘1990’

The groundbreaking free emergency ambulance service “1990” was launched last week by the Government with the assistance of the Indian Government.

The Chief Guest at the launch was Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Guest of Honour was Indian High Commissioner Y.K. Sinha. Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne and project champion Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva were also present.

The project’s elements include an emergency response centre, the deployment of 88 ambulances in the Southern and Western provinces and the recruitment and training of nearly 600 Sri Lankan personnel to implement the project. 

The project is being implemented through a financial grant of around $ 7.55 million from the Indian Government.

The Sri Lankan Government has selected GVK EMRI as the implementing agency.  A non-profit company called GVK EMRI Lanka Ltd. has been created for rolling out the services in the Western and Southern Province. All assets, including ambulances, will belong to the Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine of Sri Lanka. The emergency ambulance services will be provided free of cost to the beneficiary.  

Project champion Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva said on Saturday for the first time ever, a patient was transferred from the scene of an incident to hospital by free pre-hospital emergency care service of the Government. The 1990 service completed its 1st medical emergency with a hospital admission in Matara. The 1990 call came in at 12:23 p.m. regarding an nconscious person; EMT and ambulance was at location at 12:34 p.m. [11 minutes] and patient was admitted to the Matara General Hospital at 12:46 pm [23 minutes from receiving the call]. 

“Besides thousands of calls to congratulate and inquire about 1990 from the night of the launch the Command Centre received over 600 calls on the 1st day of operation in the Southern Province on the 29th, again mainly to make inquiries. There were 3 emergencies attended to and the one above was the first one that required hospitalisation,” Dr. de Silva added.