India on Wednesday signed a pact with Sri Lanka to supply 100 additional ambulances to the island nation’s emergency service with grant assistance of $5.28 million, the Indian mission here said.
The grant was signed and a memorandum of understanding was exchanged in the presence of Health Minister JP Nadda.
The India-assisted ambulance services were initially launched in July 2016 in Sri Lanka’s Western and Southern Provinces under grant assistance of USD 7.5 million. It included the provision of 88 ambulances, their operational expenditure for a year and the setting up of an emergency response centre. In July 2018, it was expanded country-wide by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, with an additional grant of $15.02 million, covering 209 ambulances, their operational expenses and training costs.