Need reiterated for Ambulance-boat service

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 March 2000, 07:00 GMT]
District secretaries have requested that an ambulance-boat service be established to carry seriously ill residents from the Islands off the coast of Jaffna peninsula to Jaffna town in an emergency, said sources in Jaffna.

During a conference for local government officials held recently in the Jaffna Administrative Building (Kachcheri), presided by the Government Agent,K. Shanmuganathan, the District Secretaries from Jaffna Islands expressed the urgent need for the ambulance-boat service.

Inspite of repeated requests during the last three years, and despite promises that the service will be established if money is earmarked for the project, the ambulance-boat service has not yet materialized, they said.

District Secretaries stressed the urgency of establishing the ambulance service for the benefit of the residents of the islands.

In a few cases the delays due to lack of transport facilities in taking the seriously ill from the Islands to Jaffna Hospital have resulted in loss of lives, a member of the Village Development Council said.