Sri Lanka is a country in which there are high levels of interest and demand for good medical care amongst the population. Although the country still lacks a well-functioning emergency rescue system, due to various changes in the system, its people deserve to receive one of the most modern rescue systems in Asia; similar to those industrial nations in Europe or in the US.
Having realized the need of such a system, a team of experts from Germany, upon request of the Sri Lankan government in mid-2015, extended their support towards providing a high quality German rescue system and offered to run the proposed system under the authority of Sri Lankan government.
Germany possesses one of the most modern and efficient rescue systems in the world. Having taken many efforts to put this vision into practice, the team of experts comes under the recommendation of the German Ambassador to Sri Lanka- Mr. Juergen Morhard and belongs to a German Foundation, which has over 45 years of experience in the industry and works closely with the German government. Having requested by the Sri Lankan government to submit a proposal before introducing the project to the cabinet, parliament and later to the general public, the team of experts have analyzed the current plight in the rescue system of Sri Lanka and have exposed all the necessary steps to implement a modern system that adhere to German standards. But it seems that the government is still working on the report submitted by the team.
“It is with great responsibility that I state that the ‘Bjoern Steiger Foundation’ has submitted all related documents and proposals in order to explore this great venture in Sri Lanka. I’m glad to state that the German Embassy will be accompanying them on a political platform. The ‘Bjoern Steiger Foundation’ is a privately funded company that has shown great interest in investing its capital in order to build an island-wide emergency rescue system in the country under the authority of the Sri Lankan government.” said Mr. Juergen Morhard, the German Ambassador to Sri Lanka.
The aim of ‘Bjoern Steiger Foundation’ (the German Foundation) is to build an island-wide emergency rescue system within 24 months with German quality ambulances, helicopters, other special rescue vehicles and also a communication system with the international emergency call number 112 to coordinate the whole system. The proposal also guarantees to reach a patient and undertake primary care within 20 minutes after dialing the emergency number. The German team also positively expects international funds to pre-finance this project as all the money spent on running the system will remain in Sri Lanka. Any financial excess will be directed to invest in government hospitals towards their modernization. The service will be equal to all the citizens of Sri Lanka independent of social or economic status. The citizens bear the cost in solidarity to run the system according to their income with a stratum of society not paying at all.
The measures proposed by the German team included the following; creating 29,000 new jobs opportunities for Sri Lankans in the rescue system with professional German guidance, island-wide training stations, 3 modern emergency island-wide call centers, 555 rescue stations with 1050 ambulances fully equipped with pre-medical care units of modern German technology, 260 special physician-escorted emergency cars, and 260 special technical vehicles to rescue people from difficult geographical situations as well as heavy accidents along with 20 helicopter bases with 24 fully equipped rescue helicopters. Around 35 German experts will be appointed to control the quality of the system for ten years while all examinations for trainees will be certified according to current German standards.
The German experts’ proposal also provided: Laws to regulate the system in order to be based in the government body. The team has also annexed a draft of such judicial regulations for future reference. It had also mentioned a clear structural plan to allocate responsibilities on several levels in the government, beginning from the relevant ministries down to the provincial and district levels.
The concept not only saves lives and makes life easier for Sri Lankans, but also boost the country’s economy while having a positive effect towards tourism. The project is powered by a few well-known brands namely; Airbus, Mercedes, Ford and Bosch electronics and clearly makes way for several industrial markets such as vehicle maintenance and future assembling of vehicles to be done in Sri Lanka as it would also mean up to 1000 more jobs opportunities created. They have also proposed to demand an annual publication of all the contracts and financial transactions to avoid any corruptive tendencies.
Although one may say that Sri Lankans should be relieved off such high quality standards due to its affordability and attainability, it is evident that the people of Sri Lanka are often being spared off many quality standards for the sake of a few who only see their own financial gains at the expense of the country’s people. Therefore it is time that the country takes this valuable opportunity in to prompt consideration as time is of the essence.
