Acharya hands over baton to new President of Nepal Ambulance Service

Nepal Ambulance Service (NAS) 102 is a non-profit organisation dedicated to establishing an emergency medical response system (EMS) to operate fully medically equipped and EMT staffed ambulances through a central dispatch facility with radio communication between area hospitals and ambulances to ensure rapid transport and treatment for individual patients. Ranjit Acharya completed his three-year term as President of Nepal Ambulance Service 102 on August 23 and passed the baton to Dr Pradeep Vaidya, new President of NAS, at a ceremony held in his honour. During Acharya’s term, the team signed a five-year agreement with Kathmandu Metropolitan City on May 1, 2019, where the metropolitan government has given support by providing monthly financial aid to the organisation to meet its operational deficit. NAS also collaborated with the Ministry of Health and Population in February, 2020 to create Pre-Hospital Care throughout the nation and a seven-province dispatch centre under the number 102. They will also manage National Dispatch Centre 102, and the NAS dispatch centre will soon be converted into National Dispatch Centre. Other assistance provided by the Health Ministry includes risk allowances for all employees throughout the Covid period, call centre upgrades, software updates, mobile apps, equipment support, ambulance fuel cost support, and training for the province dispatch centre employees. Furthermore, during Acharya’s tenure, NAS 102 treated 28,964 patients, provided free service to 9,668 Covid patients, and established the first-ever endowment fund of Rs five million in NAS. NAS has also offered free services to all types of patients since May and will continue to provide all services free in the future too. NAS in its 10 years of operation has provided service to more than 70,000 patients and 60 successful births have happened inside the ambulances. NAS has been providing crucial health emergency services during all national disasters and crisis.