Sindh govt decides to launch ambulance service in Karachi

KARACHI: Taking a historic decision of launching an ambulance service with a fleet of 60 fully-loaded vehicles in Karachi, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Tuesday signed an agreement with Patient’s Aid Foundation (PAF) to operate the facility on public private partnership (PPP) mode.

The grant agreement between the PAF and the Sindh government was signed by Mushtaq Chhapra of PAF and Secretary Health Usman Chahchar at the CM House.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by the Sindh chief minister, Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, CM Advisor Murtaza Wahab, Principal Secretary to CM Sajid Jamal Abro, Secretary Finance Syed Najam Shah, Special Secretary Health Dr Dabir, Zahid Bashir of PAF, Executive Director JPMC Dr Seemi Jamali, Tariq Mahmood of JPMC, Murtaza Abbas Kazmi of Aman Health Care Service.

Read More: 200 ambulances to be added into ambulance service by December: Murad

The Sindh government during current financial year will take over the service of Aman Ambulances and run it in the metropolis in collaboration with PAF. In the second step, the goal is to expand the Karachi fleet of ambulances from 60 to 200 by the end of the 2019, the chief minister said.

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

The Sindh CM said that the expansion of the service in Karachi and 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 of Sindh 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 cost immediately for the benefit of the public and therefore would especially benefit the less privileged.