Poor pay to avail free ambulance service in Eluru?

The kin of the patients who died at the government hospital in Eluru said they would refrain from availing the Mahaprasthanam services, which is provided at free of cost.

ELURU: The kin of the patients who died at the government hospital in Eluru said they would refrain from availing the Mahaprasthanam services, which is provided at free of cost. Some of the relatives alleged that drivers of the ambulances demand money for transporting the dead bodies.

The Mahaprasthanam service was introduced at the Eluru government hospital five months ago and, as such, two ambulances were provided for the purpose to the facility.In a recent case, 70-year-old Subhadramma died after she was admitted to the hospital earlier in April and her family decided to use the free service provided by the government to take her back to her home in Penugonda.

“After reaching the village, the driver demanded Rs 1,500 from us. When we asked him the reason for the money even after the service being provided at free of cost, he told us that we had to pay for the fuel charges,” Suryanarayana, a member of Subhadramma’s family, said.