The 2027 Budget allocates Rs 3,000 million to retire ageing state ambulances, around 400 of which have been in service for more than two decades.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake announced the replacement programme in Thursday’s Budget speech, NewsFirst reported. Roughly half of those 400 vehicles are past the 25-year mark.
Donor vehicles arriving first
Separately from the Budget allocation, the state health sector is to receive 45 vehicles within the next year:
- 25 ambulances through Asian Development Bank loan assistance
- 20 ambulances donated by the Government of Japan, coordinated alongside the ADB
Suwa Seriya expansion
The 1990 Suwa Seriya emergency service is to add 100 new ambulances in 2027, funded by Rs 1,725 million in grant assistance from India. NewsFirst puts the service’s current fleet at 319 ambulances.
That expansion is the same India-funded grant reported on 10 November, now confirmed with a rupee value and a delivery year.
A fleet figure that does not match
NewsFirst’s figure of 319 ambulances differs from the 322 given by the Cabinet spokesman on 10 November when the grant was approved. Neither filing explains the three-vehicle difference, and no outlet has reconciled them. The discrepancy is small but it means no single authoritative figure for the Suwa Seriya fleet currently exists in the reporting.
The two filings also frame the grant differently: the 10 November Cabinet case rested on wear in the existing fleet, while this Budget account presents the additions as expansion of operational capacity.
Sourcing note
This report rests on a single verified newsroom. The Daily Mirror’s sector-by-sector Budget breakdown carries no ambulance line.
Not reported
The filing does not say how many ambulances the Rs 3,000 million will buy, over what period the 400 ageing vehicles are to be withdrawn, or how the state fleet and Suwa Seriya fleet are divided by service area.
