Chattogram ambulance fares jump 30pc day after NCP scuffle

Ambulance fares in Chattogram have been raised by 30 percent a day after a scuffle between members of the Bangladesh Ambulance Owners Welfare Association and activists of the National Citizen Party (NCP) over allegations of overcharging.

The new rates were approved on Monday at a consultation meeting at Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH), where ambulance charges were reviewed and revised.

The meeting, titled “Rationalisation of ambulance fares for transporting patients and bodies under the CMCH policy”, was attended by hospital management committee Chairman and city Mayor Shahadat Hossain.

Leaders of the Chattogram Ambulance Owners Cooperative Society and representatives of the Chattogram Metropolitan Police were also present at the meeting, presided over by CMCH Director Md Taslim Uddin.

Announcing the decision, Shahadat said anyone charging above the approved rate would have to return the excess money through the association’s leadership.

Association President Mohammad Yusuf said that operators had sought a 50 percent increase, but discussions ended with a 30 percent rise.

He said no outside ambulance would be allowed to enter the medical college premises, although patients or bodies could still be transported in privately owned ambulances.

Ambulance charges were last fixed on Jun 18 last year.

Association General Secretary Md Aman Ullah Chowdhury said rising operating costs had made the increase necessary.

The revised fares come into force immediately and will remain in place for three months before another review, he said.

At the meeting, Shahadat also instructed ambulance operators not to park vehicles along the road from the Ali Khan Mosque area beside the hospital to Probortok intersection.

He said ambulances would have to be kept near the entrance to Panchlaish Residential Area, beside Popular Diagnostic Centre, or on vacant land owned by the Ministry of Public Works near the United Nations Park.

People from across the division travel to the medical college, nearby hospitals and doctors’ chambers in the area, he said, adding that vehicles would no longer be allowed to line the roadside and worsen traffic congestion.

On Sunday afternoon, a confrontation broke out near the eastern gate of CMCH between members of the ambulance owners’ association and NCP activists over allegations of “excessive fares”.

The dispute began earlier in the day over the cost of hiring an ambulance to Sonaimuri in Noakhali.

Patients’ relatives have long complained that an alleged syndicate forces them to pay two to three times the normal fare.