NWFP to Receive Emergency Vehicles Worth Over $77,000
Islamabad, December 22, 2009 - In a ceremony held today in Islamabad, Robert Wilson, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director, donated ten ambulances to the Dera Ismail Khan Health Department. The ambulances, designed and equipped to assist pregnant women and newborns, will provide more rapid access to emergency medical services in one of Pakistan's most remote and conflict-ridden areas.
The donation is part of the Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns (PAIMAN), a six-year, $92.8 million project, funded by the USAID, that aims to build capacity of existing health systems and foster a community-based approach to ensure care for mothers and newborns. In 2009, the U.S. has donated 116 ambulances to rural communities in NWFP, Punjab, Sindh, and Baluchistan provinces.
The new ambulances "bring care of mothers and newborns to the next level by providing rapid transport to larger medical facilities in time of complications," Mr. Wilson said. "We hope that they will bring a better quality of life to Pakistani families in NWFP for many years to come."