Ambulances in Bengaluru no more life-savers, only death-bearers

Hundreds of private ambulances have been caught up in long queues in crematoria, denying them the chance to be lifesavers for people in need.

Ambulance drivers, mortuary workers and vehicle owners told DH that the deluge of Covid-19 fatalities has tied up ambulances and drivers to crematoria for a large part of the day.

“Each body takes about an hour to cremate. Most crematoria have two burners. On average, we are getting 15 to 20 ambulances showing up at each crematorium per day. If both burners are operational, that means 10 hours to clear the queue,” explained Raja Kalpalli, general secretary of an association of crematorium employees affiliated to the Ambedkar Dalit Sangharsha Samithi.

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While he confirmed that a majority of private vehicles coming to crematoria are fully functional ambulances, Ujjwal Ghosh, Special Officer (West Zone), said the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike was only using hearses across the city to transport bodies.

“In the West Zone, we have the use of 10 hearses which are exclusively used for body transport,” he said.

Private hospital operators said they had no choice but to commit some of their ambulances to transport bodies due to economic hardships.

“Last year, we had been contracted by the BBMP to carry out Covid-19 emergency transport services. But for two months in January and February, we were not paid at all as the BBMP said we did not have much work. We have since left the BBMP’s service. Now, we are taking any job we get because we are hurting financially,” said P J Rajashekar, owner of Sri Jyothi Ambulances.

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Private ambulance operators equated parking ambulances at crematoria to emergency hospital duties.

“There is no difference at all between spending hours at the crematorium and driving futility from one hospital to the other in search of beds for patients,” Rajashekar said.

The BBMP’s nodal officer for ambulances Nagendra Naik said the Palike had currently deployed 371 ambulances for Covid-19 duties.