Noida: Transporting bodies of
Covid patients is proving to be a challenge for family members as ambulance drivers are charging anything between Rs 10,000 and Rs 14,000 to head to the nearest crematorium, even if it is just a few kilometres away. Some drivers in the city have also been charging Rs 500 an hour to wait outside crematoriums, which are overwhelmed with bodies.
Residents said that just like hospital beds, it was extremely difficult to get an ambulance in the city. Even if somebody managed to get one, he or she would have to shell out an amount equivalent to the fee of an ICU bed at any private hospital.
A 24-year-old woman in Garima Vihar society in Sector 35 had to wait four hours for an ambulance to take the body of her 94-year-old grandmother to the crematorium on Monday. The elderly woman had not contracted Covid, but was unwell ever since she suffered a fracture in the hip bone. With her son in hospital after testing positive and his wife in isolation, there was nobody other than the granddaughter to take the body for cremation.
It was only after a FONRWA member tweeted about the matter and tagged the district magistrate that an ambulance arrived after four hours.
Others who managed to get an ambulance had to pay an exorbitant charge. Chintamani (45), a Noida resident, died of Covid on Monday night, days after he had taken the vaccine shot. Chintamani’s family had got him admitted at ESIC hospital after they failed to bear the cost of treatment at a private hospital in Sector 110.
Rohit Kumar, a friend of Chintamani’s son, said as the hospital did not have an ambulance, they had to look for one by themselves. “We initially wanted to take the body to Bihar, but decided to do the cremation in Noida itself given the current situation. We approached a private ambulance driver, who demanded Rs 14,000 to transport the body 7km away. We told him we could take the body all the way to Bihar with that money and refused. We found another ambulance driver, who charged Rs 6,000,” he added.
This apart, some
ambulances have also been charging for “waiting time” outside crematoriums. With all cremation grounds overwhelmed with bodies, a 3-4-hour wait is not unusual these days, residents said.
“Our driver said we will have to pay Rs 500 per hour if he had to wait outside the crematorium,” Rohit said.
Relatives of several Covid patients told TOI they had to pay between Rs 10,000-14,000 to ambulance operators.
Ambulance drivers said lack of sufficient vehicles and a surge in demand had led to the current situation. “There are around 35-40 ambulance operators in Noida, but they get calls from across Delhi-NCR. That is why drivers are charging high rates. But it is also because they have to pay a commission to agents and middlemen who wait outside hospitals. This leaves them with only a few thousands,” said Satendra Negi, an ambulance provider in the city.