The increase in petrol prices in Pakistan during the recent months has not only affected the normal transportation but also the patients who have to use the ambulance to go to the hospital frequently for treatment. Is.
Karachi, the country’s largest city by population, has 3,000 ambulances and welfare organizations say it is becoming difficult for them to provide free service or subsidize ambulance facilities.
Faisal Edhi, the head of the Edhi Foundation, a large welfare organization in Karachi, the economic center of the country, says that he has observed that many patients have even given up treatment because they use the ambulance facility to reach the hospital. Can’t afford to do it.
Faisal Edhi said that after the increase in petrol prices, the ambulance fares were slightly increased, but despite this, according to him, the number of patients using the ambulance service has decreased by 30 to 35 percent compared to the past.
Independent Urdu has prepared a detailed assessment report on the impact of the increase in petrol prices on the ambulance service users by talking to the welfare organizations and other relevant organizations including the local administration in Karachi.
How long do patients have to travel for treatment in Karachi?
Out of the seven districts of Karachi, the district South is considered the center of the city, which consists of Lyari Town, Sadar Town and Jamshed Town and the most important, major public and private hospitals of the city are also located in this district.
Since Karachi is spread over a wide area, patients have to travel long distances between different parts of the city, which also costs a lot of money, and after the increase in petrol prices, the journey from home to the hospital is now also a long one. It has become very expensive.
For example, if a patient wants to go from Mubarak Village, a fishing settlement in Kemari Town, to Jinnah Hospital in Karachi, they have to travel 50 km. Similarly, patients from Goth Sukhiv village in Malir district have to travel 104 km to reach Jinnah Hospital.
According to Faisal Edhi, head of Edhi Foundation, people in poor areas of Karachi have given up treatment due to the increase in ambulance fares after the increase in petrol prices.
According to Faisal Edhi, there are no hospitals in the labor settlements of Landhi, Korangi, Orangi, Malir, Baldia Town, Etihad Town in Karachi and the people there have to come to South District. Some patients have to go to the hospital for treatment three to four times a week and it has been observed that after the increase in rent, many people have reduced their treatment and some have given up treatment altogether. .
According to the head of Edhi Foundation, Faisal Edhi, due to the increase in the price of petrol, the people of the poor areas of Karachi have given up treatment due to the increase in ambulance fares (Amar Garu / Independent Urdu).
According to Faisal Edhi: ‘On a normal day in Karachi we provide ambulance service to 1500 people. We have also kept the rates specific, but despite this, the number of people using the ambulance has decreased by 30 to 35 percent due to the increase in rates for some time, because they cannot afford it.’
According to Faisal Edhi, the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) contacted him and said that due to the increase in the ambulance rent, a large number of patients have stopped coming and if they stopped getting dialysis done. So patients can die.
According to Faisal Edhi: ‘I told the SIUT management that if any of their patients use Edhi’s ambulance but cannot pay, then bring the slip of the amount paid to Edhi and we will return all the money to them. Will do. Now every month 250 to 300 patients come to us from SIUT to get their money back.’
The number of patients at SIUT, a major institute for renal diseases, has decreased
Farida Mazhar, Head of Patient Welfare Department of Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) told Independent Urdu that ‘Some patients who used to come twice a week (SIUT) for dialysis now come once. Are coming. It is difficult to tell the number of such patients, but there are many such patients.
Farida said that considering this situation, we request the Edhi Foundation or other welfare organizations to reduce or waive the ambulance fare for these patients from home to hospital and from hospital to home. How we try to help them.’
Patients with some diseases including kidney cleaning ie dialysis, physiotherapy for exercise of body parts, thalassemia have to travel on an average one to three times per week for treatment.
Edhi Foundation volunteers make way for an ambulance carrying the body of prominent social activist Abdul Sattar Edhi in Karachi on July 9, 2016 (Rizwan Tabasim/AFP)
How many ambulances are there in Karachi?
Edhi Foundation and Chhipa, the major philanthropic organizations responsible for the ambulance service in Karachi, have about 950 ambulances in the city.
According to Ahmad Edhi, Assistant Zonal Incharge of Edhi Foundation, Edhi Foundation has more than 400 ambulances for Karachi city, 20 large size ambulances for going outside the city, two air ambulances while 12 rescue boats and six hearses.
Similarly, according to Chhepa Foundation spokesperson Chaudhry Shahid Hussain, his organization has more than 500 ambulances for Karachi city.
According to the website of Al-Khidmat Foundation, a non-governmental organization established by Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, 305 ambulances of Al-Khidmat Foundation are working in Karachi.
Khitmat Khalq Foundation, a subsidiary welfare organization established by the political party MQM, also has 100 ambulances.
Similarly, according to Mehr Khursheed, spokesperson of the Sindh Health Department, the Sindh Health Department has 200 ambulances for service in government hospitals in Karachi only.
Apart from this, a private company named ‘Karachi Ambulance Service’ is also operating which provides ambulance vehicles owned by ordinary citizens to various private institutions, hospitals and institutions on monthly rent. According to the manager of this company, Shahid Sindhu, various private companies have 350 such vehicles in Karachi.
According to Red Crescent website, they have 14 ambulances while Rescue 1122 has 50 ambulances.
According to Chhipa Foundation spokesperson Chaudhry Shahid Hussain, his organization has more than 500 ambulances for the city of Karachi (Asif Hassan/AFP).
How expensive is an ambulance trip in Karachi?
Majority of the ambulances in Karachi are owned by welfare organizations which usually charge Rs 30 to Rs 45 per km.
Edhi Foundation, a major charity in the city, has also formulated a formula to reduce the burden of ambulance fares on poor patients after the sharp rise in petrol prices.
According to Ahmed Edhi, the ambulance fares are fixed on a per-trip basis and the aim is to provide convenience to the patients to some extent.
Speaking to Independent Urdu, Ahmad Edhi said: ‘Edhi has a formula for the ambulance fare, under which Rs 200 is charged for one to eight km, Rs 500 for nine to 18 km and Rs 1000 for 18 to 30 km. They go.’
He said that in terms of vehicle maintenance, petrol, driver’s salary and other expenses, the Edhi Foundation used to pay 38 rupees for one kilometer of ambulance travel, but instead of taking the full amount from the poor patients, the Edhi Foundation paid for the ambulance service. By subsidizing, patients are charged less.’
But Ahmed Edhi says that after the increase in oil prices several times in the past, now one kilometer travel costs up to Rs. 45 but the patients are not being charged more.
According to Faisal Edhi, after the increase in the price of petrol, the amount of subsidy allocated to the Edhi Ambulance facility has also increased.
According to Chhepa Foundation spokesperson Chaudhry Shahid Hussain, the cost of running an ambulance has also increased after the increase in the price of petrol. However, the ambulance fare has not been increased.
“The Chhipa Foundation subsidizes ambulances to poor customers, but after the increase in petrol prices, the foundation has to spend a lot of money on ambulances in the form of subsidies.”
According to Shahid Sindhu, manager of a private ambulance service, after the increase in the price of petrol, the private companies have been forced to increase the ambulance fare by 50%.
According to Shahid Sindhu: ‘75% of the private companies operating in Karachi have shifted their ambulances from petrol to CNG after the increase in the price of petrol, because after the increase in fares, the common customers have abandoned the use of private ambulances. is given Therefore, efforts are being made to keep the fare reasonable by running private ambulances on CNG.
Edhi Foundation and Chhipa have around 950 ambulances in Karachi city (Amar Garu/ Independent Urdu).
According to Mehr Khursheed, Spokesperson of Sindh Health Department, Sindh Health Department has had to increase the budget for the ambulance service after the increase in the price of petrol.
Maher Khurshid told Independent Urdu: ‘After the increase in the price of petrol, the petrol allowance had to be increased from the contingency budget of the department. The budget for our 200 ambulances had to be increased by 15 to 20 percent.’
According to the Red Crescent website, the fare for Jeep ambulance is Rs 22 per km, Toyota Hi-S and the ambulance used for cardiac patients is Rs 30 per km, besides Rs 100 per hour in case of waiting. A ‘waiting time’ charge of Rs.
According to this calculation, if a patient uses Red Crescent Ambulance for dialysis from Mubarak Village in Kemari Town, 50 km from Jinnah Hospital, they will have to pay Rs 3000 to and fro and Rs 400 for waiting time of four hours for dialysis. Have to pay Rs. Thus a total of 3400 rupees per day will have to be paid only for rent assistance.
Patients with certain diseases including dialysis, physiotherapy, thalassemia have to travel on an average one to three times per week for treatment. In this sense, the patients of Goth Sukhiv village in Malir district have to travel 104 km to Jinnah Hospital on other available vehicles other than Edhi Foundation and Chhipa special rate ambulance which can cost Rs 3120 to Rs 4680. .
If a dialysis, physiotherapy, thalassemia patient from this area comes to Jinnah Hospital three times a week, they have to pay Rs 18,000 to Rs 28,000 per week for ambulance fare only and account for one month. If applied, this cost will be from 74 thousand to 1 lakh 12 thousand rupees.
Patients of some diseases including kidney cleaning i.e. dialysis, physiotherapy for exercise of body parts, thalassemia have to travel on an average one to three times every week for treatment (Amar Garu/ Independent Urdu).
‘If I didn’t get a free ambulance, dialysis would have to be stopped and I wouldn’t have survived like my two brothers’.
Muhammad Arif, a resident of Baldia Town in Karachi, has been undergoing dialysis at Rathpau Civil Hospital for the past 11 years due to kidney failure. Initially they have to come to the hospital for dialysis once a week, after some time twice a week and now three times a week.
Speaking to Independent Urdu, Mohammad Arif said: ‘It is a 25 km journey from Baldia Town to Civil Hospital. In 2012, the cost of an ambulance to and from the hospital was 400 rupees. 1000 after some time and recently after the increase in the price of petrol, now it would have cost 2000 rupees.’
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He said that “Two thousand rupees also in case I use Edhi Foundation’s ambulance. The cost of a private ambulance is three to five thousand rupees.
According to Mohammad Arif, he used to work, but due to illness, he was fired on the recommendation of the medical board. His father is retired from Pakistan Navy and he gets his treatment from his father’s pension.
According to Mohammad Arif: ‘You don’t have to go to the hospital 12 times a month just for dialysis, sometimes you have to travel for check-up with a doctor and even if you feel bad. In a month, I have to visit the hospital 15 to 18 times.’
He said that it was not possible to treat and run the house with father’s panache alone. After dialysis, the condition becomes irreversible and travel by bus or rickshaw is not possible. So requested Edhi Foundation to provide free ambulance. Now Edhi Foundation provides free ambulance, that’s why the treatment is being done.’
According to Arif: ‘My elder brother and younger brother were also suffering from kidney failure and they also had dialysis, but due to lack of adequate money for treatment, both brothers died. If the Edhi Foundation had not provided a free ambulance, I might not have survived like the two brothers.’
What does the government say?
When the Chief Minister’s House was contacted to take the government’s stand, Abdul Rasheed Chana, the spokesperson of caretaker Chief Minister Sindh, told Independent Urdu that the Sindh government is aware of the difficulties faced by the patients after the increase in oil prices. The Sindh government has set up Rescue 1122 with substantial funds, which has modern ambulances and the service is completely free and is working well.’
When he was asked whether the Sindh government will give any subsidy to the Welfare Ambulance Service working in Karachi after the increase in oil prices, Abdul Rasheed Channa said, “The Sindh government can also think of giving subsidy, but Since it requires constant large sums of money and there is a caretaker government at the moment, the move can only be taken when the new government comes in.’