Soaring ambulance costs push patients toward cheaper options

As the cost of private ambulance services soars, many patients are turning to alternative and cheaper forms of transport. One such case involved a patient from Defence Bhutta Chowk, suffering from a broken leg, who was transported home in a loader rickshaw after a hospital visit. The patient, a daily wage laborer, had been bedridden for 20 days and could not afford the Rs6,500 fee quoted by private ambulance services.

Unable to pay for the expensive service, he asked his brother, who drives a loader rickshaw, to take him instead. Despite the discomfort, the patient preferred enduring the pain over spending such a hefty sum. For the return trip, he found the cost of an ambulance ride to be around Rs3,500, while the loader rickshaw cost him less than Rs1,000 in fuel for a round trip of about 20 kilometers. The ambulance would have cost him nearly Rs10,000, far beyond his means.

This highlights a larger issue: both private and welfare ambulance services, like Edhi and Chhipa, charge per kilometer, making their services unaffordable for many low-income patients. Critics have pointed out that ride-hailing services like Careem, Uber, and inDrive offer similar distances for a fraction of the cost, with occasional promotional discounts.

There has also been criticism of the government’s Rescue 1122 ambulance service, which primarily focuses on emergency cases such as accidents. Citizens claim that the service does not meet its stated 7.5-minute response time. Health advocates argue that the government should ensure affordable or free ambulance services for underprivileged patients, as public funds through taxes support these state-run services.