Daily Times

KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided to launch an ambulance services with a fleet of 60 fully-loaded vehicles in Karachi.

The government signed an accord with Patient’s Aid Foundation (PAF) to operate facility on Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. The grant agreement between PAF and Sindh government was signed by Mushtaq Chhapra of PAF and Health secretary Usman Chahchar at CM House on Tuesday.

Sindh chief minister Murad Ali Shah said that the provincial government would take over service of Aman Ambulances and run them in Karachi in collaboration with PAF in the current financial year in the first phase of the project. He said that the target of the second step was to enhance the city’s ambulance fleet from 60 to 200 by the end of 2019.

“There is already a successful pilot project underway in districts of Thatta and Sujawal with 25 life-saving ambulances running under `Sindh Peoples Ambulance Service’,” said the CM. “This initiative has been successfully operating for past two years under a similar public-private partnership between Sindh government and Aman,” he added.

Murad Ali Shah said that expansion in Karachi and rural areas of province would be undertaken under proposed name of `Sindh Emergency Medical Services’. He said that ambulance service would be expanded to all districts of Sindh on an incremental basis under new name. He said that existing, as well as expanded service, would be made available free of cost immediately for benefit of public and therefore would especially benefit less privileged.

The signing ceremony was attended by Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, CM Advisor, Murtaza Wahab, Principal Secretary to CM, Sajid Jamal Abro, Secretary Finance, 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.

Published in Daily Times, December 19^th 2018.