Ziqitza Healthcare Ltd (ZHL), promoted by Acumen Fund with an investment of $ 1.5 million and known for its 'Dial 1298 For Ambulance', is introducing 60 new ambulances in Mumbai by March 2009. This will fill up the space in Emergency Medical Service (EMS) and Advance Life Support (ALS) ambulance service. Once the proposed expansion will be complete, it expects to be reaching patients in Mumbai within 15 minutes of receiving a call for an ambulance. Further, the company is also planning to provide these kind of services in rural area.

"Considering the current lack of professional emergency medical services or even basic ambulance services for patients and accident victims in India, there is a market need for an effectively and efficiently run ambulance service in every urban area. Creating immense value for everyone living in India's urban centres, both poor and rich. We expect that the financial and operational support we are providing to 1298 will result in millions of lives saved throughout India as the 1298 team and its business model continue to grow", said Varun Sahni, Acumen Fund's India Director.

Emergency medical services are in the early stages of development in India, and ambulance service in India is extremely disorganized. Over 90 per cent of the ambulances in operation in urban India are in poor condition and lack medical equipment or trained paramedics on board. While ambulance services may need subsidies or budgetary support in rural areas, the model developed by 1298 is fully capable of addressing the EMS market needs in urban India, where the largest cities have populations ranging from 1.35 million to 17.4 million.

"Acumen Fund is committed to identifying and supporting local entrepreneurs who are focusing on bringing critical services to the world's poor. Our investment in ZHL will enable DIAL 1298 For Ambulance in India to continue grow and scale so that the millions living in poverty in urban India have a greater chance of receiving life-saving emergency medical care," said Acumen Fund CEO Jacqueline Novogratz.

DIAL 1298 For Ambulance is the first private sector plan in India to provide ambulance services as its core service. In Mumbai, DIAL 1298 For Ambulance currently, offers several services namely, Basic Life Support (BLS), cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), Advanced Life Support (ALS) and Patient Transport Service (PTS), which can be accessed by dialling the common telephone no 1298 across all telecom providers.

It employs a sliding scale pricing system based on the level of hospital to which a patient is taken. Those who go to free public hospitals do not pay, while those who ask to be taken to Mumbai's more expensive hospitals pay accordingly. The 1298 covers costs through a combination of the premium payments made by half its clients and by managing capital costs. The straightforward ethos is "service for all" requires constant vigilance to balance both social and financial aims. Given the importance of minimizing all capital costs so that free services can be made available, ZHL uses a mix of grants, equity and loans to grow its service.

Acumen Fund and 1298 are working together to use financial, social, and operational metrics to measure the investment's sustainability, potential for scale and social impact in line with the Acumen Fund philosophy are the key to creating long-lasting, widespread benefit. The financial metrics that will determine the investment's success include gross and net revenue, capital expenditures and the number of paying patients; operational metrics include total calls responded to by 1298 ambulances, average response times, total number of lives saved and the strength of the management team; and social metrics being analysed include increased access to emergency care for the poor and improved overall quality of health care as a result of services made available through the 1298 initiative.

Acumen Fund is a non-profit venture fund that invests in market-oriented approaches for delivering critical, affordable goods and services to the world's poor. Acumen Fund's efforts focus on the convergence of philanthropic capital and business expertise to produce sustainable, scalable enterprises that reach underserved markets and open access to the opportunities of the global economy.