BENGALURU: Lack of systematic release of funds and allegations of agencies that rope in private ambulances for Covid-19 duty “taking a cut” from payments made to owners of these ambulances have made several ambulance drivers either not responding to calls or catering to non-Covid emergency calls to make a quicker and bigger buck.
This has compromised the response time to emergency calls from Covid patients. Officials from the disaster management team, requesting anonymity, alleged that private ambulances roped in for Covid cases are being mismanaged. BBMP pays private ambulances anywhere between Rs 1,30,000 and Rs 1,50,000 per month.But many ambulance owners and drivers TNIE spoke to alleged that agencies that rope in ambulances for the BBMP are pocketing Rs 30,000-50,000 from payments due to ambulance owners.
“We get only Rs 1 lakh and the rest is taken by middlemen,” alleged a private ambulance owner, who has rented out five of his vehicles.Another ambulance driver said, “Since we are not getting much work, we are worried about our payments. I had given my vehicle in March, and money is pending since July. The intermediary agencies take a cut. Many drivers don’t want to work when government agencies call, as they prefer private parties so that they get more money in addition to the rental from the BBMP.”
On delayed response, Saqib Idrees, a volunteer working as an ambulance driver, said, “It takes 6-7 hours for an ambulance to reach a Covid patient. Once the patient calls 108, it takes an hour to confirm the case. Then, the bed has to be confirmed. After the hospital reserves the bed, they have to inform the helpline. Only then, the ambulance is sent.”
The 108 helpline has 711 ambulances and has roped in 73 private ambulances. Dr Swathanthrakumar Banakar, Deputy Director and Nodal Officer, 108 GVK Emergency Management & Research Institute, said, “Right now, private ambulances do not have much work since the BBMP has hired many ambulances. We pay Rs 1,50,000 to private parties.” Data revealed that the BBMP has hired 720 private ambulances, of which 103 are Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulances, 433 are vans converted to BLS ambulances, and remaining 184 are running as vans.
D Randeep, nodal officer in charge of ambulances in BBMP, said, “The ambulances were hired through various agencies, which give us an estimate or a bill. Our zonal officers will then verify the bill based on their records. The agencies would have paid the drivers every month. But we are yet to release funds.” Joint Commissioner (Finance), BBMP, Venkatesh T too confirmed this.