Malda: The district administration will set up a control room at the Malda Medical College and Hospital (MMCH) where people may file complaints about either government or private ambulance services, if found charging arbitrarily or harassing the patient’s family.
The step has been taken to avoid any untoward incident with the ambulance service in the district.
There will also be a toll-free number available for this purpose. The police will also verify the ambulance drivers and vehicles. The health officials will respond to any complaints that are filed. For this, a nodal team might be created. Further, the ambulances will have stickers with toll-free numbers on them for the benefit of people.
In this respect, the district administration held a meeting with the ambulance owners association in the presence of all block and district-level health officials on Thursday afternoon at the conference hall of the Collectorate building, office of the District Magistrate.
Nitin Singhania, DM Malda said: “All the papers of the ambulances should be submitted after verification. We’ll take strong action against the ambulances demanding extra charges or harassing people.”
Currently, there are 246 Nischay Yans, 38 ambulances’ and numerous private ambulances in Malda.