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Coronavirus in India: Ambulance operators are charging arbitrary rent from Kovid patients across the country during the Corona period. Many states have also set the maximum fare limit but loot from patients continues unabated. 10 thousand rupees are being charged for a distance of up to 10 kilometers.

Highlights

• Ambulance operators are charging arbitrary rent from patients during the Corona period
• 15 thousand rupees recovered for 6 km from a person in Bengaluru
• 30 thousand rupees charged for 10-15 km in Mumbai
• Symptoms are being asked from normal patients in many places, many times rent on cold and cough

In this round of Corona, there are many complaints when patients are being charged for 10-15 kilometers as much as the flight to Europe can be caught. However, some states have taken steps to control the charge of ambulances. Even in the states where the maximum fare has been fixed, the game of loot with Covid-19 patients continues to rage on it by flogging it.

30 thousand recovered for 10-15 km in Mumbai

In Mumbai, when the corona infection was in spate, there were many complaints of patients being charged up to Rs 30,000 for a distance of 10-15 km, ie Rs 3000 per km. After this, the Maharashtra government was forced to intervene in late June. In the last week of June, a Kovid patient in Pune was charged Rs 8,000 for up to 7 km within the city.

15,000 rupees for 6 kilometers in Bengaluru!

Similar complaints came from other states as well. A Bangalore man was charged Rs 15,000 for taking his 54-year-old mother to a private hospital located less than 6 km away. In Kolkata, 6 thousand to 8 thousand rupees are being charged for transporting Corona patients up to 5 kilometers.

3 thousand separately from PPE kit in addition to manifold rentals

This loot is not just limited to collecting 20-25 times the fare, but many private ambulances are charging Rs 3 thousand separately for sanitizing the PPE kits and ambulances of drivers, helpers. A private operator charged Rs 11,000 to take his uncle from a hospital in Hyderabad to Gandhi Hospital in Secunderabad, 20 km from a hospital in Nizampet.

Private operators are taking advantage of the lack of ambulances

In many states, Corona patients lost their lives due to a lack of ambulances. According to the World Health Organization standard, there should be at least 1 ambulance per 1 lakh population. Talking about Bengaluru, there is an ambulance here at a population of 1.4 lakhs. Its deficiency has had a very bad effect on the war against Corona. Government agencies operate 71 ambulances in the city, out of which only 23 have been made available for corona patients. At least one Corona patients lodged in the city lost their lives while waiting for an ambulance. After this, the Karnataka Home Minister had to announce the addition of 400 additional ambulances.

Operators have increased fares in most states

In most states, ambulance operators have increased fares by leaps and bounds. Prior to the Corona era, ambulance operators in Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh were charging Rs 10 per km but now it has been increased to Rs 13 per km. In Jharkhand, Maruti Van Ambulance used to charge Rs 500 for a distance of 10 km but now Rs 900 is being charged.

In Bihar too, the fare being charged from 5 to 10 times

In Bihar too, private ambulance operators are charging 5 times to 10 times the normal fare. Bihar’s health activist Mukesh Hisaria says that operators are charging arbitrary rent. He told me that leave aside the corona patients, if the normal patients are to be taken, then the ambulance symptoms are being asked. If someone shows signs of cold, cough, then they are charging an arbitrary fare. Patients are helpless, they have no choice.

Arbitrary even after fixing maximum fare in Pune

Even in Pune, the ambulance operators are charging Rs 8,000 from the patients and an additional Rs 1500 for the PPE kit, while the total fare for this is fixed at Rs 900. When the RTO filed a case under section 420 of the IPC against an operator, it was discovered that the operator was illegally running an ambulance service. He converted the trains meant for mobile clinics into ambulances.

1.4 lakhs to be charged for 300 kilometers

In West Bengal, a corona patient was charged Rs 1.4 lakh for a distance of more than 300 km from Durgapur to Gaya. On the complaint of the victim, Burdwan RTO had to interfere and Rs 1 lakh was returned to the patient. An FIR was also registered in this case but the operator escaped with the ambulance.

Free ambulances to Corona patients in Himachal, Kerala, Goa, Odisha

In contrast, in states like Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Goa, government ambulances are being given free corona patients to hospitals. In Odisha, the government has tied up with private hospitals to make their ambulances available to Corona patients for free.