Hundreds of New Ambulances to Replace Aging Fleet Across Sri Lanka

COLOMBO (News 1st); For years, Sri Lanka’s emergency medical response has relied heavily on an aging fleet, with 400 ambulances across the state health service clocking more than two decades on the road, and roughly half of them pushing past the 25-year mark. 

That era of keeping quarter-century-old vehicles running on borrowed time is officially coming to an end.

Delivering the 2027 Budget Speech in Parliament today (12), President Anura Kumara Dissanayake unveiled a sweeping, multi-billion-rupee overhaul aimed at modernizing the nation's emergency transport network and delivering faster, safer care to patients. 

At the centerpiece of the domestic push is a proposed Rs. 3,000 million allocation in 2027 specifically earmarked to retire those aging state ambulances and replace them with brand-new vehicles.

The domestic investment is being supercharged by a major wave of international backing from Sri Lanka’s key development partners. Within the next year, the state health sector will receive an immediate injection of 45 new vehicles, comprising 25 ambulances secured through Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan assistance and another 20 donated via a direct grant from the Government of Japan, coordinated alongside the ADB.

Meanwhile, the country’s widely relied-upon 1990 Suwa Seriya emergency service is set for its biggest expansion in years. 

Currently operating with a fleet of 319 ambulances, Suwa Seriya will add 100 brand-new units in 2027, backed by Rs. 1,725 million in grant assistance from India.