BY Ruvimbo Muchenje
Mars, a recent acquisition of Cassava Smartech, has unveiled an affordable ambulance service for Zimbabweans.
Speaking at the launch of the service in Harare yesterday, the company’s chief executive officer Doug Mahiya said in an era of high costs, their state of the art ambulances will service people in and around Zimbabwe for as little as $5 monthly.
Mahiya says the company bought a fleet of 14 ambulances at a cost of over US$1 million.
“We bought brand new ambulances and the bulk of them are 2019 quantums. To fully furnish them with all that equipment it cost us US$100 000 each making it US$1,4 million,” he said. In a bid to improve accessibility, Mars introduced a short code to assist in times of emergencies.
“We introduced a short code, 182 that will lead you straight into the Mars control centre to improve accessibility to healthcare,” Mahiya said.
EcoSure subscribers are also eligible to access the ambulance services.
Cassava Smartech chief operations officer Denver Phiri said the company was driven to improve morbidity.
