India Grants Rs 1.7bn for 100 New Suwa Seriya Ambulances — Aid or Dependency?

Cabinet just approved an MoU with India for a Rs 1,725.7 million grant to buy 100 new fully-equipped ambulances for the 1990 Suwa Seriya service, which handles around 1,000-1,200 emergency calls a day. The request went out after the existing fleet started breaking down more often on the road, something that can be a matter of life and death when someone's having a heart attack or a bad accident. One side of this: it's a free grant, not a loan, nobody's complaining when it fixes a fleet that's literally saving lives every day, and Suwa Seriya itself started with Indian help back in 2016 so this is just more of the same good relationship. The other side: this is essential domestic infrastructure, and Sri Lanka keeps needing someone else to pay for it instead of ring-fencing a proper replacement and maintenance budget. New ambulances will age into breakdowns too in a few years unless servicing money is sorted out now, not just the purchase price. Has anyone here used Suwa Seriya recently, and did the vehicle show up on time? Should health transport funding come from our own budget, grant or no grant? අම්බුලන්ස් එකක් කැඳවපු අය කියන්න, ඇත්තටම වේලාවට ආවද?