December 10: British Medical Journal has awarded Nepal Ambulance Service (NAS) with the Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Team of the Year Award at the annual British Medical Journal South Asia Awards. This was the fifth edition of the BMJ South Asia Awards held in Chennai, India on December 1. 

According to NAS, more than 1500 nominations were received from across South Asia in categories such as Excellence in Medical Education, Healthcare Innovation and Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Team of the Year among others. The finalists were from across the region, with representation from India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal.

After receiving the award, president of Nepal Ambulance Service (NAS), Ranjit Acharya, said, "We are very delighted and proud to win this award. The credit for this award goes to the entire team due to whom we could win this award representing Nepal. We are very thankful to the British Medical Journal for this award.”

Acharya added that any one can call the toll-free number of NAS at 102 for emergency assistance round the clock.

According to Acharya, the emergency telephone call is directed to the NAS dispatch center where an agent screens the call for response details and dispatches the closest available ambulance.

He claimed that NAS is providing international standard health service with the help of EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians) in each ambulance.