The Ministry of Health has procured 74 ambulances, 40 of which have already been distributed to various hospitals across the country while 34 are in transit.
During a handover ceremony of the vehicles that took place in Lilongwe at the weekend, Minister of Health Jappie Mhango said the ambulances have been bought using local resources to the tune of K4 billion.
Mhango said for Malawi’s health sector to function properly, the country needs slightly over 300 ambulances.
He also said the country only had 124 serviceable ambulances and that, therefore, the coming of the other ambulances will beef up the fleet.
“I am delighted to receive the first consignment of the 74 ambulances that government has procured using local resources to reduce the shortage of ambulances.
“We spent around K4 billion and fortunately government has also given us more resources in the budget that has been passed for us to procure additional ambulances,” he said.
Chikwawa District Council Acting Director of Health and Social Services, Stalin Zinkanda, said the ambulances will reduce transport problems the district has been facing.
“We had one ambulance only, so these two more ambulances will significantly boost our service delivery in the district,” he said.
The ambulances also have special medical facilities inside which can be used to treat patients while in transit to the hospital.