NELLORE: Private ambulance operators have nearly tripled their charges to transport patients to hospitals or ferry bodies. The situation has worsened post-Covid-19, as the operators claim sanitising the vehicles after every trip involves huge expenditure. Vexed people are suggesting the authorities to fix rates depending on the distance just like prepaid cabs and deposit the money into the bank accounts of operators to prevent them from exploiting patients and their kin. A large number of private ambulances along with body freezer boxes are seen at the government hospital in Nellore. Drivers and middlemen move on the hospital premises freely to contact patients.
The commission of the middlemen is also added to the ambulance charges. The operators charge between Rs 7,000 and Rs 10,000 to transport a patient home from a hospital within the city limits. “Recently, we paid Rs 15,000 to a ventilator ambulance to shift my mother to Narayana Hospital from the GGH for a distance of 7 km,” said K Srinivasulu of Balaji Nagar. In fact, all the operators quote the same charge giving no scope to the patient’s kin to bargain. Red Cross Society Nellore chairman P Chandrasekhar Reddy has underlined the need to rein in private ambulance operators who formed into a syndicate, to safeguard the interests of patients.
No system to fix rates
There is no system to fix charges of ambulances. The DM&HO will only ensure that operators ply ambulances as per health standards and maintain good hygiene, said official sources