Procurement of an Ambulance Boat
A Climate-Resilient Marine Spatial Plan will guide the protection and sustainable use of the Virgin Islands’ marine environment. It will define key zones for conservation, fisheries, recreation, and development—supporting climate resilience while enabling a balanced blue economy.
Introduction
The Virgin Islands is an archipelago of 60 islands and cays with the majority of the approximately 40,000 resident population spread across four main islands, but with several other islands hosting small populations and tourism properties.
While in many ways an asset, the geographic spread of The Virgin Islands poses a significant challenge to delivering life-saving health care to the entire population, especially in the aftermath of heavy rainfall events and hurricanes which are becoming more instance with climate change.
At present, the inter-island emergency medical transfer system is weak with very limited resources. A network of properly equipped boats, fixed wings and helicopters at responders’ disposal, depending on the situation, with built-in redundancy is proposed. Procurement of an ambulance boat has been identified as a priority for enhancing the system. Financing is the main obstacle to the system’s implementation.
The Impact
This project will deliver the competitive procurement and deployment of an ambulance boat to support emergency inter-island medical transfers, ensuring that all residents and visitors can rapidly access life-saving health care in a hospital environment, including immediately after a disaster event.
The ambulance boat would be suited for navigating Virgin Islands waters and outfitted with ambulance-grade medical equipment and supplies as well as specialised equipment to stabalise patients during transfer on rough seas.
The air ambulance is expected to significantly reduce patient transfer times from sister islands to Peebles Hospital on the main island, Tortola and increase the quality of in-transit care, resulting in lives saved.
The Problem
VISAR Rescue Boat
The Solution
Ambulance Boat
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