Kenya will establish its first National Ambulance Dispatch Centre by the end of July, marking a significant step in the government’s efforts to strengthen emergency medical services and improve access to urgent healthcare across the country.
President William Ruto announced the initiative during the 95th St John Ambulance Annual Parade and Inspection at State House, Nairobi, saying the new centre will provide a centralised system for coordinating ambulance dispatches and emergency evacuations nationwide.
According to the President, the dispatch centre will be integrated into Kenya’s digital health infrastructure and will enable emergency responders to identify and deploy the nearest available ambulance to patients requiring urgent medical attention. The system is expected to improve response times, enhance coordination among ambulance providers and ensure patients are transported more efficiently to appropriate health facilities.
Ruto said the facility will be the first nationally coordinated ambulance dispatch centre in Kenya and only the second of its kind in Africa. Once fully operational, the government projects that the system will coordinate approximately 100,000 emergency evacuations every year.
The President also announced that ambulance evacuations coordinated through the national dispatch system will be provided free of charge. In addition, he said the first 24 hours of emergency treatment for accident victims and other emergency cases will be fully covered under the Social Health Authority’s (SHA) Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illness Fund, regardless of whether a patient is registered with the health scheme.
“No Kenyan will be turned away in an emergency again,” Ruto said, describing emergency medical care as a public service that should be accessible to everyone regardless of their financial circumstances.
The National Ambulance Dispatch Centre forms part of the government’s broader healthcare reforms aimed at achieving universal health coverage through improved emergency care, digital health systems and expanded access to essential medical services.
The centre will operate through the Digital Health Agency, allowing emergency call handlers to monitor ambulance availability in real time, identify the closest response unit and coordinate patient transfers with receiving hospitals. The integrated approach is expected to reduce delays that often arise when emergency responders and health facilities operate independently.
For years, emergency ambulance services in Kenya have largely been managed separately by county governments, private hospitals, St John Ambulance, the Kenya Red Cross and other emergency response organisations, each relying on its own dispatch systems. While these services have played a vital role in responding to medical emergencies, the absence of a single national coordination centre has often resulted in fragmented emergency response, duplication of effort and longer response times in some cases.
The planned dispatch centre seeks to address these challenges by bringing ambulance coordination under one integrated national platform while maintaining collaboration with existing emergency service providers across the country.
The initiative also aligns with Kenya’s Emergency Medical Care Policy 2020–2030, which identified the establishment of a coordinated national ambulance dispatch system as a key priority in strengthening emergency healthcare. The policy calls for improved communication, faster emergency response, enhanced coordination between ambulance providers and health facilities, and equitable access to emergency medical services regardless of a patient’s location.
Health experts have long argued that rapid ambulance deployment is one of the most important factors in improving survival rates during road traffic accidents, cardiac emergencies, maternal complications and other life-threatening conditions where timely medical intervention is critical.
The launch of the National Ambulance Dispatch Centre therefore represents a significant milestone in Kenya’s efforts to modernise emergency medical care while supporting ongoing reforms under the Social Health Authority. By integrating emergency transport with digital health systems and expanding financial protection for emergency treatment, the government says it aims to ensure that patients receive timely care without delays caused by fragmented coordination or inability to pay.
If implemented as planned, the dispatch centre is expected to become the country’s central command hub for emergency ambulance services, improving coordination among healthcare providers while strengthening Kenya’s capacity to respond more effectively to medical emergencies nationwide.
