Himalayan News Service

Birgunj, February 25:

Ambulances, instead of ferrying sick people to hospitals, are being used to ferry hospital staffers and goods, participants in an interaction on ambulance management complained. They added that ambulances were charging huge amount from patients. Phul Mohammad Miya, a minister of the Nepal Red Cross Society Parsa chapter, said local PCOs and shopkeepers were involved in the misuse of ambulances.

The attention towards the misuse of ambulances was drawn after the ambulance owned by the National Medical College, Birgunj, was found transporting construction materials. Local clubs, social organisations and commercial PCOs have been operating ambulances. Niraj Sharma of the Birgunj Jaycees said the ambulance owners deprive the needy of services by saying that the drivers are unavailable or that the vehicles are out of order.