TIRUPATI: Private ambulance operators in Tirupati district continue to exploit people by demanding exorbitant charges from transporting bodies from hospitals. On Wednesday, private ambulance operators near Gudur Area Hospital obstructed carrying the body of a person in another ambulance vehicle and entered into heated arguments with relatives of the victim. Police intervened and filed cases against the private ambulance operators and shifted the body in another vehicle.
A youngster hailed from Timminaidupalem of Kota mandal was killed in a road accident on Tuesday and a postmortem was conducted in the Area Hospital in Gudur on Wednesday. The relatives of the victim approached the ambulance operators near the hospital. Local operators demanded Rs 4,000 for the 17 kilometre travel. Though the relatives of the victim bargained for hours, the private ambulance operators didn’t budge.
The parents of the victim are daily wage workers. Later, they called another ambulance from their area.
When the vehicle from Kota reached the Area hospital, private operators in the area entered into heated arguments with the ambulance driver and relatives. The kin of the victim informed the local police. Gudur I Town Police led by Sub-Inspector Pawan rushed to the spot. Police shifted the private ambulance operators to the station and booked cases against them.
The incident triggered a public outrage and residents of Timminaidukandriga demanded stern action against the ambulance operators. The relatives later shifted the body. In a similar incident, private ambulance operators in Ruia Government Hospital in Tirupati obstructed a private ambulance vehicle from entering the hospital premises on April 26. Ambulance operators stalled an ambulance from shifting a patient, which leads to the death of the person, on May 18, 2020.