The police have stepped up surveillance on the operation of private ambulances in Kuppam Assembly constituency which borders Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, in the wake of incidents of carrying of bodies on motorcycles by the family members of deceased owing to non-availability of ambulance services in Tirupati district in the recent days.
Many road accident victims who get critically injured need immediate ambulance services for shifting to hospitals in the neighboring States. Around 20 private and government hospitals in the tri-State junction of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu cater to the need of the accident victims.
In case of emergency, people in Kuppam constituency that spreads over the rural areas of Ramakuppam, Shantipuram, Kuppam, and Gudupalle immediately think of the PES Medical College Hospital. Some medical practitioners refer patients to the Government Area Hospital at Kuppam and the other private hospitals.
However, people complain that private ambulances waiting close to the hospital zones are charging exorbitantly for shifting patients to the hospitals in Bengaluru, Kolar, Vellore and Tirupati.
Circle-Inspector (Kuppam) T. Sridhar says that even as the region has good healthcare facilities for general ailments, people in the need of emergency care prefer corporate hospitals. Instead of traveling 190 km to Tirupati, patients prefer to rush to Bengaluru, which is 110 km away or Kolar, 55 km away; and Vellore in Tamil Nadu, 110 km away from Kuppam.
Now, the Kuppam police are keeping a watch on the operations of ambulances across the inter-State borders.
Counselling sessions
“We have conducted a series of counselling sessions for ambulance operators to ensure that they do not fleece patients. Almost all of them have agreed to maintain a uniform tariff for carrying patients or bodies. We are advising people to contact their area police stations in case of fleecing by ambulance operators. We are planning to rope in services of philanthropists in arrangement of some vehicles to ensure free transport of bodies if the family members have financial difficulties,” said Mr. Sridhar.
