NEW DELHI: A goodwill gesture made by India in 2016, when PM Narendra Modi handed over 88 ambulances to Sri Lanka, is helping the island nation save millions of lives. Sri Lanka, govt sources said, used the ambulances gifted by India to launch its national emergency ambulance service and, as time passed by, added more ambulances to the fleet.
“Today, the fleet size of ambulances has grown to 322. It is used to provide free emergency transportation services to the whole country day and night,” Sri Lankan minister of health and media Nalinda Jayatissa told PM Modi in a communication shared on Saturday.
According to Jayatissa, 2.24 million emergencies have been handled by the ambulance service since 2016. This includes road accidents and cardiac or stroke cases.
“Out of the above, 65% of the emergencies fall into the ‘critical golden hour’ category which means the patient would have lost his or her life if not for this ambulance service. That is nearly 1.5 million lives saved up to now due to your generosity and continues to save lives in Sri Lanka,” Jayatissa said.
Officials said the success story of Sri Lanka’s ambulance services is also a shining example of cooperation between the two neighbouring nations. Recently, when a massive earthquake jolted Myanmar, India launched ‘Operation Brahma’ to provide necessary support, including search and rescue, humanitarian aid, disaster relief and medical assistance. Under this initiative, the govt sent 15 tonnes of relief material, including tents, blankets, sleeping bags, food packets, hygiene kits, generators, and essential medicines within 24 hours of the disaster. More support, including 442 metric tonnes of food aid, was delivered last week.
