Colombo Sri Lanka (Commonwealth Union)_1990, it’s an easy enough number to remember and it is the number that has been answered six million times on the first ring and handled 1.4 million emergency cases since inception in 2016. The 1990 Suwa Seriya ambulance service was established by an Act of Parliament in 2018 and given its high tech-enabled operations, has been lauded as the most efficient government service in the business of saving human lives.
However, all is not well for the immediate future of the national ambulance service. Sri Lanka’s economic woes is seeing it needing lifesaving support. With the economic crisis coupled with inflation sending costs spiralling upwards, the country’s treasury which funds operations can only provide LKR 2.4 billion of the required LKR 3.9 billion required for the year. The shortfall of LKR 1.5 billion had to be met or the quality of the service compromised. This means maintenance, training and upskilling and even having to take a call on the levels of emergencies to be attended to, are all on the line.
A bright idea was put forward – request corporates and individuals to ‘Adopt an ambulance’ to meet the shortfall in funding. The generous spirit of the Sri Lankan people came to the fore and within a few weeks, the service had collected LKR 600 million towards its cause.
Chairman of the 1990 Suwa Seriya Foundation Dumindra Ratnayaka speaking exclusively to the Commonwealth Union said, “It also shows that the corporate sector believes in us because we have credibility as the most efficient Government service. We have continuously obtained unqualified audit reports from the Auditor General and have always been transparent. This is why we have gained that confidence.”
The fleet of nearly three hundred ambulances are manned by 750 fully trained EMTs who are driven by 749 pilots, all trained to assist these EMTs. The operations are structured on a lean highly productive model built on a sophisticated technology footprint which manages everything from HR, to fuel efficiencies to medicine management.
The axis of the service is the Call Centre, which handles 5,300 calls a day, manages the ambulance fleet and has an unprecedented success rate of having answered 99.8 per cent calls on the first ring. With efficiency being the overarching factor, the response time is just 11.5 minutes to any location across the country. “This response time and answering a call on the first ring are two factors that make us world class,” says Ratnayaka. “Every case we get is handled. The technology we use is some of the best in the world, which is why our quality can be seen as being among the best emergency healthcare services.”
Ratnayaka hopes that the country’s first and only public sector pre-hospital care service which has in the past dealt with a gamut of emergencies including road accidents, heart attacks, strokes and even bomb attacks, will continue being the life-saver it has been to the country.
