Nepal currently does not have any emergency medical system. There isn’t a telephone number for medical emergencies, and the multitude of ambulance organizations don’t communicate with each other. Ambulance workers have no medical training and don’t provide any health care. Most ambulances don’t even have medical equipment. People regularly die in ambulances from easily preventable causes, because they do not receive treatment before reaching a hospital.

The goal of the National Ambulance Center of Nepal is to give life-saving treatment and fast transport by trained medical professionals to all emergency patients in the Kathmandu Valley, regardless of their ability to pay.

The National Ambulance Center will provide:

• Ambulances equipped with medical supplies
• An Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) training course for ambulance staff
• A free three-digit telephone number for medical emergencies
• A 24-hour dispatch office that receives calls and coordinates ambulances to respond quickly
• Free care to the needy. This will be Nepal’s first organized ambulance system. It will expand throughout Nepal, and it will be a model for the developing world.