Today July 28 “1990 Suwaseriya Ambulance Service” completes five years since the began. The 1990 Suwaseriya is a well-organized healthcare service providing excellent patient care to the people in Sri Lanka. Suwaseriya has so far received 4,170,125 phone calls for assistance during its five years and has directly contributed to 903,438 incidents including hospitalizations of patients.
The emergency ambulance service was set up with the assistance from the Government of India in July 2016 with 88 ambulances and 500 Sri Lankan staff in the Western and Southern provinces. In 2016 and 2017, India had given a grant of US$ 7.6 million in first phase and in second instalment $15.2 million to Sri Lankan government to run free ambulance services.
The idea of launching such an ambulance service came after a proposal made by Dr. Harsha de Silva. During the setup period doctors opposed the ambulance service.
Although the ambulance service in our country often took patients from one hospital to another, there was no facility to transport patients from home to a hospital and this facility is provided through the 1990 Suwaseriya which is a completely free service. The Suwaseriya team is committed to transporting critically ill patients to a hospital in less than 12 minutes at and has a specialized system in place.
Suwasariya is not just a team of ambulances with the ability to manage emergencies, including first aid, they are a team of trained staff with commitment, accountability and responsibility.
Through the 1990 Suwaseriya, the team has been able to provide a great service to the urban and rural population throughout Sri Lanka, receiving over 5,000 calls and hospitalization of over a thousand patients per day. Suwasariya has a staff of 1394 and 297 ambulances. President has focused on increasing its capacity and arrangements are being made to add 112 new ambulances to the present fleet.
Suwaseriya has so far received 4170125 calls for assistance during its five years and has directly contributed to 903438 incidents including hospitalizations of patients. Since the second Covid 19 outbreak Suwasariya has contributed to the transportation of 67,962 positive patients to hospitals.
A Message issued by Dr.Sudarshini Fernandopulle, State Minister of Primary Health Care, Epidemics & Covid Disease Control on the occasion of the Fifth Anniversary of the Suwasariya Ambulance Service. “Suwasariya service has won the trust of the people at the grassroot level of the country. On the occasion of the Fifth Anniversary, I would like to extend my congratulations to all those who contributed to the launch of this service and to the staff, including the Chairman and the Board of Directors. I also take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all those who have unwaveringly served Covid19”