Ambulance service or Emergency medical service is all about providing services such convey medical emergency cases, critical or injured patient to the hospital and well as conveying patient’s remains to the mortuary or home for funeral service purposes.

Whether you intend starting an emergency medical service with a single EMT vehicle or you aim to start off an ambulance service company, the business is a silent one but the potential profit margin is extremely high.

In this article, you will learn how to start an Ambulance service business in Nigeria or other parts of the world? You will also learn how to grow your  Ambulance service company?

3 Services to Offer as An Ambulance Service company

The 3 services you can offer as an Ambulance Service company include:

1. Emergency Ambulance Services: emergency ambulance service involves keeping your ambulance system standby for conveying patients with emergency health issues or accident victims to the hospital within a short possible time. In this type of ambulance service, both skilled medical personnel and customized ambulance vehicles required.
2. Non-Emergency Ambulance Services: This type of ambulance services does not require skilled personnel or customized vehicles to get started.
3. Cross Ambulance Services: this type of ambulance service includes both emergency and non-emergency ambulance services.

How to start an Ambulance service business

Here is an in-depth guide on how to start/run an ambulance service:

Take a Decision

To get started with an ambulance service, you need to first decide if this business is for you. Take time to initiate plans and list all the reasons why you think you can succeed in the business.

Willingness to serve humanity is the most important prerequisite of an ambulance service. As expected of any kind of business, offering ambulance services is a business that requires passion and dedication; you need to love the job in other to reap the profits.

Read more about “10 Helpful tips in starting a successful ambulance service business” to get a glimpse on how to succeed in this business.

Acquire all necessary certification

 Before starting an ambulance service business, it is important you understand want things are involved in running an EMT vehicle service business. You need to go through the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountant Act (HIPAA) to know if you can meet up the standards of Association.

Acquire skills

You also need to acquire skills to succeed in Emergency Ambulance services.  A good way to start is to attend a driving school and acquired a driving license. One advantage of acquiring a driving license is that you can be driving one of the EMT vehicles. Mind you that running an ambulance service business entails a willingness to serve humanity. You are attempting to save the lives of people in this business hence you have to be humane in dealing with patients. Although, there are always great rewards that come in your way as you run the business diligently.

If you’re growing the ambulance service business to a high level then you need such a business skill such as;

• self-management skill
• financial management skill

Where need be, ability to follow these Ways to Raise Funds to Start the Business.

• Appealing personal traits

In an ambulance service, an appealing personal trait is needed. These personal appealing traits include; being patient, zealous and energetic. You have to be humane in your approach to the business. Always, present yourself pleasantly and show calmness even when encountering with people of unusual temperaments. You don’t in any form be angry with your customers or disagree with them.

• Persuasion and negotiation skill

• creativity
• Best use of personal skills and better knowledge.

Register your Business Name

One of the major factors you must consider carefully is the model of a startup. Will you start the ambulance service business as a registered company or none registered business? I will rather suggest you register the business.

For those in Nigeria who wish to start the business as a registered company, can register on CAC online business registration portal and if you are non-Nigerian, you inquire about the parastatals in charge of business name registration in your country. Your business name should be reprinted on all your EMT vehicles which will serve a form of advertisement

Decided on whether to Partner or lease your EMT

A man named Ronald Nzimora, a top information marketing strategist started a haulage firm with two trucks; leased it to Dangote and made close to a Million Naira doing nothing. Even as of today, he still makes millions leasing his trucks to Dangote.
You too can still make Million by either partnering with or leasing your EMT vehicle to hospitals or medical centre. This is one sure way of maximizing profit in this business.

Write Business Plan

Any business without a business plan is short-circuited. A business plan will serve as a blueprint for the business and its team. Having a business plan clearly helps you set your business mission, vision, goals and objectives; and also help keep you on track of your Ambulance service.

Even if you are starting an ambulance service business as ‘one-man business’, write a business plan because it can become an important tool tomorrow for the business expansion and outsourcing for funds. Banks can’t give loan without seeing your business plan. To expand your ambulance service business and attract investors, learning how to write an attractive business plan will be of great help.

Manage Time Effectively

Ambulance service business requires a high level of seriousness, dedication and most importantly good time management ability. There is usually an increasing demand to serve customers on time and ability to always remain at their disposal. There are times you might be called upon even when you are resting.

So, always keep yourself ready at all times and facilitate this much of demanding service for better service delivery. Your team of management and workers should be ready to fill this mission of better service.

A 24-working hour schedule rooster should create and implemented for your workers to help solve the problem of time lapses.

Look for a Good Locality

If you are going to run this business as a full-time business, you need a good location. Of course, you know that the company should be sited near hospitals, mortuary or medical centre.

So, take into consideration the landmarks in case they will be needed for expansion in the near future.

Decide on Number of Staff to Employ

What number of persons (staff) will you employ? You may need to start the business with 5-10 workers- depending on your financial capacities and as you grow, you employ more staff.

Buy an Ambulance System

You need to buy a good Ambulance system. We have some requirement for a standard ambulance system. Seven things you should consider when buying an ambulance system;

1. How will the EMT vehicle be used? Is it going to be used as ALS or BLS, rescue or transport only, rural or urban? Basic Life Support, non-rescue vehicles, requires less equipment to be carried and t smaller vehicles may be used. Rural use may require the need to carry additional equipment.
2. How is Fuel consumptions? Ambulances historically have never been designed to maximize fuel efficiency; efforts are being made to maintain this standard.
3. What is the Structural Integrity of the Ambulance system? Vehicle integrity is determined using static weight testing and no crash testing is usually needed but unfortunately, all the re-enforcement materials are forgotten stories, they are all out of sight.
4. What safety factors are built into the Ambulance system? In recent years, there has been a big push to improve safety for the vehicle occupants. Watch out for a safety cabinet for a patient in the vehicle.
5. Are they Available spare parts? Are the parts readily available in case something went wrong with a part or when you needed to replaced worn-out part?
6. What is the half Life of Ambulance? An ambulance that is used for only 3-4 years is still a high-value EMT vehicle; for some companies as a primary response vehicle, for others a sound back-up vehicle.
7. What is the Price of the Vehicle? All the items mentioned above will impact the price you pay for a particular ambulance. Changing from diesel to gas-powered vehicles will require a change in parts of the vehicle. Incorporating safety features also costs money. The summary of it is that if you want a structurally sound, safe and green vehicle, it will cost more upfront to purchase.

In terms of finances involved you have to think about it in a smart way. Are you ready to accept the challenge of decreased financial compensation? Wait for better prospects when your ambulance services business reaches a certain level to offer a good profit margin.

Advertise Your Services

You can partner with hospitals, fire departments and medical practitioners. A good way to advertise your services is by liaising with hospital workers and practitioners to enable them to recommend your services to any person who is in need of it. You can also design and print flyers to share to people in strategic places of the town and also have an emergency number where people who need an ambulance service can contact your company.

Finally, the ambulance service is a silent profitable business you can take advantage of regardless of your country or locality. With the above information on Ambulance Service, you can start your own ambulance service business or company in South Africa, USA, Canada, UK, Australia, India, Nigeria, Cameroun and even Ghana.

The ambulance or EMT vehicle service business is universal; the only difference is the location, the economy of the region, the perception and culture of the particular region in which the business is situated.

If you enjoyed this long article, show some loves…don’t just read, asks your questions, share and drop some comments. Share this with your family, relatives and friends – simple hit on the social network button on above this article