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Private ambulances overcharging, allege patients; operators deny charge
As Punjab’s 108 Ambulance Employees Association stir entered day 2, complaints about private ambulance operators overcharging patients are on the rise
As Punjab’s 108 Ambulance Employees Association stir entered day 2, complaints about private ambulance operators overcharging patients are on the rise.
Patients and their attendants had a harrowing time amid the strike with many struggling to get an ambulance quickly.
Jagdeep Singh, 23, from Nabha, said he brought his brother-in-law from a government hospital in Nabha to the emergency ward of the Rajindra hospital in Patiala and later shifted him to a private hospital some 800m away.
“The first driver charged ₹2,000 from me. I can understand, probably, the distance was more, and ambulance employees of the government were on strike, but what was a shocker for me were the charges between Rajindra hospital and a private Amar hospital, which according to Google Maps is just 800m away. I had to shell out ₹600.”
Similarly, Kamalpreet Singh, a resident of Giaspura in Ludhiana, said, “I brought my pregnant wife to the Civil Hospital in a private ambulance and paid ₹2,000. I tried to get 108 ambulances but came to know about their strike.”
Bhanki Devi, 56, a resident of Meharban, Rahon Road in Ludhiana, had brought her husband Kishore to Civil Hospital’s emergency ward in an auto-rickshaw.
However, the private ambulance operators refused that they were charging more for emergency services.
Gurpreet Singh, a private ambulance operator in Ludhiana, said, “We charge ₹3000 to ₹3500 in a radius of 20 kilometres. Above this, we charge ₹12 to ₹13 per kilometre.”
Avtar Singh, president of All Ludhiana ambulance welfare association, said they have 25 to 30 ambulances and they are charging a genuine rate for the services.
“We charge genuine rates for the service. We will continue to provide emergency services and are not supporting the 108 ambulance employees in their strike,” Avtar said.
Satish Kumar of all ambulance association in Punjab said, “We have 400 ambulances in Punjab, and no one is taking extra money from the patients. The ambulance service setup in an Omni Van was charging ₹11 per/km, and other vans were charging ₹12 per/km. The charges for bigger vehicles are ₹18 per/km.”
Another private ambulance driver, Krishan Kumar, a resident of Patiala, said, “I charge between ₹500 and ₹600 if the case is local. But one has to realize that we also have to spend on the vehicle. The oxygen cylinder is filled at the cost of around ₹400.”
The civil hospital is facing more problems because of the strike with Christian Medical College (CMC) hospital and Dayanand Medical College (DMC) hospital asserting that they have their ambulance to shift patients and their services are not affected.
Dr Charan Kamal, the emergency nodal officer at Civil Hospital, Ludhiana, said, “Daily, we have 4-5 patients referred to other hospitals. The civil hospital has only two ambulances.”
