The Northern Territory has announced a vital health service funding boost worth $149 million.

The Territory will be able to buy new ambulances and pay for more people to operate them, with the launch of a new five-year contract with St John’s Ambulance.

The organisation says it will employ 55 new people (about 25 per cent of its current workforce) and buy seven new ambulances.

It will mean two extra crews can be rostered on in Darwin during peak times, Alice Springs will have more paramedics and non-emergency, while Katherine will gain another paramedic too.

Darwin has struggled with poor ambulance coverage in the past, with crews having to travel up from Casuarina in peak times.

The extra non-emergency crews will deal with lower risk patients, so that emergency crews can focus on patients who need them most.

Reports say some of the money will go to relocating the ambulance station in Katherine so that it is now longer in a flood zone.

Tenders for the $7.6 million facility will be out soon.