Rs 8K For 5 Km, Rs 10K For 10 Km; Ambulance Charges In Telangana!

HYDERABAD: While countless instances across the country prove that the coronavirus crisis is a time for camaraderie and helping out one another, there is an equal number of cases where some sections of essential services are found to be exploiting the situation by fleecing people in helpless conditions. Ambulance services, some of them, appear to be in the forefront besides corporate and private hospitals looking to most of the pandemic scare with hefty charges.

Ambulance service providers in Telangana and some other states are found to be charging exorbitantly to shift COVID-19 patients during emergency situations.

According to a ToI report, some ambulance service providers in Telangana are charging anywhere between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 for a distance of 10 kilometres to shift the patients.

This is in stark contrast to the fares that were being charged before the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. The ambulance fare in Hyderabad before the pandemic used to be between Rs 80 and Rs 120 up to a distance of 5 km. But now, thanks to the testing times, the service providers have increased the fare as high as Rs 10,000 for a distance of 10 km.

Telangana was not alone in this fleecing business by greedy service providers. Several other states are also charging jaw-dropping fares for shifting coronavirus patients.

In Bengaluru, Rs 15,000 was collected from a COVID-19 patient’s family for a distance, as short as six km, according to reports.

Similarly in Kolkata, private ambulances are reported to be charging between Rs 6,000 and 8,000 up to 5 km.

But the people are unable to raise their voice against this as they are helpless and left with no other option. A few private ambulances are charging an additional Rs 3,000 in the name of PPE kits and other items.

But the situation appears far better in Punjab and Maharashtra as the state governments there stepped in to regulate the ambulance fares.  

On the other hand, the number of COVID-19 cases in Telangana is increasing with each passing day.

Telangana reported 1,284 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday. With this, the total number of coronavirus cases in the state rose to 45,077. Six deaths have been reported, taking the total deaths in the state due to the dreaded virus to 415.

Out of the cases reported on Sunday, GHMC accounted for the maximum with 557 cases, followed by Rangareddy with 111 new cases and 87 cases reported in Medchal.