Vijayawada: Ambulance charges fixed for shifting Covid bodies

Vijayawada: Krishna district administration on Thursday announced the ambulance charges to be paid for carrying/shifting the the dead bodies from hospital to the homes or graveyards, crematoriums and other places.

The district officials conducted a meeting with the owners of ambulance/tempo services and fixed the prices depending on the distance and waiting time. The meeting was conducted in the backdrop of allegations leveled by many people that the ambulance vehicle owners and drivers are fleecing the people for transportation of the bodies.

The charges are different for the bodies of Covid patients and non-Covid patients. Krishna district Collector Md Imtiaz on Thursday said that people can lodge a complaint on the control room phone number 9491058200 if the ambulance drivers demand more charges than the prescribed by the district administration. He said the Transport and Police department would conduct enquiry and would take stern action for fleecing the people. Ambulance vehicles, tempos and other vehicles are doing the service of carrying the dead bodies since the second wave started in the last month.

The Collector said minimum charge is Rs1,700 for shifting of Covid bodies and Rs 2,800 for non-covid bodies and maximum charge is Rs 5,060 for Covid bodies and Rs 6,160 for non-Covid bodies. Ventilator, technician and oxygen expenses are added to the charges. The charges are fixed for the distance from 0-10 km to 110-110 km. The service charges are mainly depend on distance.

For more than 110 km Rs.20 is collected for every kilo meter. For more than 110 km, additional bata to driver is Rs.500. No waiting charges for less than two hours. If the waiting time is more than two hours, Rs 500 should be paid for every one hour.

Collector Imtiaz appealed to the ambulance vehicle drivers to do co-operate with the people, Covid patients and the government in the pandemic time and do the service to the people.