Pvt ambulances thrive thanks to BMC apathy

Mumbai: Private ambulance service providers in the city are flourishing due to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s  (BMC) apathy in creating awareness about the availability of cheap ambulance services at civic-run hospitals. 

While BMC-run ambulances charge a mere Rs 50 per hour, private ambulances have been exploiting the families of patients by charging anything between Rs 1,000 and Rs 3,000 depending on the distance. 

The Asian Age has also learnt that staff at the civic hospitals do not bother to inform families about the BMC hearse, thereby compelling families to shell out large sums for a private hearse. 

Rajesh Solanki, a family member of a deceased, said, “We lost our son-in-law due to an accident and he was brought to Sion Hospital. After the post-mortem, we were asked to get a private ambulance to transport the body from the hospital to our residence in Bhandup. One of the private ambulance drivers told us his rate  was Rs 1,800. As we belong to a lower middle class family, we could not afford it.” 

Since major civic-run hospitals do not have enough ambulances to cater to the large number of patients, privately-run ambulances fill the void, minting money. 

However, Dr Jayshree Mondkar, dean of Sion Hospital, said, “The hospital has eight ambulances and one hearse. Of these eight, only two are civic-run, while the others account for the cardiac-ambulance and gynaec-ambulance among others.”

Minister for medical education Girish Mahajan said, “There is a shortage of civic-run ambulances in the civic-run hospitals, and steps will soon be taken to improve the number. We will also ask the deans of the hospitals to display a board in the hospital premises stating that BMC ambulances are available at cheaper rates.”

A source from Sion Hospital said, “We have only one civic-run hearse and one civic-run ambulance for patients, which is operational for 24 hours. However, when the ambulance/hearse is out for an emergency, the other patients are left with only two choices, either wait for hours till it returns, or simply get the work done by a private ambulance.”

A senior BMC official said, “The BMC ambulance is functional only within the civic body’s jurisdiction that is valid only till Dahisar, Vashi and Mulund. The BMC ambulance does not travel any farther than that.”

A private ambulance driver at Sion Hospital told this paper on condition of anonymity, “We have no set rates for transporting patients and charge a minimum of Rs 1,000 and transport the body/patient to any part of the city/state. However, we charge more if we know that the location is far, as that would burn a lot of fuel.”

Another private ambulance provider near Bhabha Hospital said that since there are more private ambulances that are placed at strategic locations across the city, the response time is less as compared to civic-run ambulances. He added that rates were decided as per the distance and kilometres that the trip involved and hence rates fluctuated from patient to patient.