Sea ambulance has made 846 trips so far this year

Defence Ministry has said that the sea ambulance has made 846 journeys so far in the year.

The sea ambulance service is provided by the Defence Ministry’s Coastguard in cooperation with the Health Ministry and Aasandha.

Speaking at a press conference at the Coastguard building today, Defence Minister Adam Shareef Umar said that the sea ambulance service began in 2015 with 21 speed boats and the fleet currently have 23 in service. And in the next month or so, two more would be joining the fleet.

Minister Adam Shareef said that last year, 1420 trips were made by the sea ambulance and up to April 2016, 846 trips have been made this year.

That is, 414 in the northern Maldives, 164 in the Malé area, 100 in the middle and 168 in the south of Maldives.

Defence Minister Shareef said that with the high number of trips in the south, such trends would be analyzed and more vessels would be added to the regions in the future.

Sea ambulance is requested by Aasandha when a medical transfer is needed to another island after getting in contact through the Health Center or Hospital.