'Mersal' Style Ambulance Corruption by Pvt Hospitals ‘Shake' Chennai Patients!

'Humanity is something that is being sold even in Hospitals,' is the baseline of the accident scene featured in the popular movie Mersal (2017). The scene revolves around an accident driver deliberately diverting a patient to a private hospital only for money.

According to the latest TOI report, whistleblowers have complained that 108 services in Chennai operate on the basis of the commission given by private hospitals. It was reported that some of the hospitals pay the drivers a percentage of the total bill as commission after a particular patient gets discharged from the hospital.

The complaint was received by GVK-Emergency Management and Research Institute (GVK-EMRI) that runs the '108' service in Tamil Nadu. Reportedly an initial inquiry had begun by the state head of GVK-EMRI Selva Kumar. It has to be mentioned that 108 drivers are restricted to collect money from hospitals or patients.

While some of the caretakers of the patients volunteer themselves to go to private hospitals, it is said that the ambulance drivers also make attempts to divert other patients to private hospitals who might expect treatment in government hospitals otherwise. Reportedly, ambulance drivers stay in touch with selected private hospitals and provide them with immediate information as and when they attend an emergency case.

One of the whistleblowers had told TOI that some of the drivers get paid on the spot as soon as they drop the patient at the emergency unit. The information also reveals that the commission received by the ambulance drivers will also be recorded in books and TDS would be deducted while transferring the money.   

The TOI had not released the name of the hospitals yet as they are waiting for the final confirmation of the account books along with the complete list of hospitals that are involved in the scam.

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