Following a written request by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for assistance for setting of an emergency ambulance service in Sri Lanka, the Indian government agreed to support it.

The commitment of Indian government was formalized through a Letter of Exchange ceremony that took place in September last year during the visit of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to India. The project would cover the Western and Southern Provinces of Sri Lanka.

The project is being implemented through grant assistance of Government of India of around US$ 7.55 million. Project elements include an emergency response centre, deployment of 88 ambulances in the Southern and Western Provinces and recruitment and training of nearly 600 Sri Lankan personnel to implement the project. Only 4-6 staff members are to be deployed from India to provide management and technical expertise guidance. Government of Sri Lanka has selected M/s GVK EMRI as the implementing agency.

A ‘not for profit company’, called GVK EMRI Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd., has been created for rolling out the services in the Western and Southern Provinces of Sri Lanka. All assets, including ambulances, will belong to Ministry Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine of Sri Lanka. The emergency ambulance services would be provided free of cost to the beneficiary.

This project is another milestone in the wide raging development partnership between India and Sri Lanka. India’s development portfolio in Sri Lanka is nearly US$ 2.6 billion, out of which US$ 436 million is pure grants.