Sindh govt to launch ambulance service with 60 existing vehicles

Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has taken a historic decision to launch an ambulance service with an existing fleet of 60 fully-loaded specialised motor vehicles in the city as he entered into an agreement with the Patients’ Aid Foundation (PAF) to operate the facility on public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

Health Secretary Usman Chahchar and PAF’s Mushtaq Chhapra signed the grant agreement at the CM House on Tuesday in the presence of the CM, Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, Adviser Murtaza Wahab, Principal Secretary to CM Sajid Jamal Abro, Finance Secretary Syed Najam Shah, Health Special Secretary Dr Dabir, Zahid Bashir of PAF, Executive Director JPMC Dr Seemin Jamali, Tariq Mahmood of JPMC and Murtaza Abbas Kazmi of Aman Health Care Service.

Under the agreement, during the current fiscal year, the Sindh government will take over the service of Aman ambulances and run them in the city in collaboration with PAF. CM Shah said that in the second step, the goal is to expand the Karachi fleet of ambulances from 60 to 200 by the end of 2019.

A successful pilot project is already underway in Thatta and Sujawal districts with 25 life-saving ambulances by the name of ‘Sindh Peoples Ambulance Service’, which has been successfully been operating for the past two years under a similar public-private partnership arrangement between the Sindh government and Aman Foundation.

CM Shah said that the expansion of the service in Karachi and in rural areas of the province would be undertaken under the proposed name of ‘Sindh Emergency Medical Services.’ He added that concurrently the ambulance service would be expanded to all districts on an incremental basis under the new name.

He disclosed that the existing as well as the expanded service would be made available free-of-charge immediately for the benefit of the public and therefore would especially benefit the less-privileged sections of the society.