Karnataka government set to regulate private ambulances by amending law
"We'll be coming out with an amendment to the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (KPME) Act any day and bring all ambulance service providers under its ambit.
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This will allow us to regulate ambulance-hiring charges, grade fixation, service, etc," health and family welfare minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said.
"At present, there's no licensing or specific registration facilities for ambulances and mobile medical units. Both of these will be brought under the KPME Act," he added.
Rao's statement came after reports about a private ambulance charging Rs 8,500 to take a patient from Goraguntepalya to Victoria Hospital.
"The health department has already taken the issue of private ambulances charging exorbitant rates seriously... I appeal that the health sector should be viewed with a service mindset and not just from a business perspective," the minister had posted on social media.
Health officials told TOI the state govt aims to follow the Singapore model that has a central command centre, which will be used to track and monitor both private and govt ambulances.
This could be a game-changer in emergency response as ambulances will be strategically stationed across the city and state, and not just at hospitals, an official added.
At present, govt ambulances are equipped with a GPS tracker to help patients get to the nearest healthcare facility.
The govt's 108 service has 88 ambulances across the city, but private ambulances run in the hundreds in Bengaluru alone. The new system would prevent underhand dealings among ambulance drivers to take patients to certain hospitals, a private hospital doctor opined.
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