Cover for doctors, drivers

Nagpur: The 108 ambulance service promises to provide emergency treatment and transport to hospitals. But recent mishaps have highlighted the risks faced by doctors and drivers manning these ambulances.
BVG India, which runs the system, has 4,665 employees in the 108 service. Each ambulance has three doctors and two drivers. Now, more than two years since the project began, BVG is considering providing life and medical insurance to the employees.
TOI spoke to one aggrieved former employee of BVG. Dr Rehman Khan (32), who had been allotted the ambulance at Pachgaon Public health Centre (PHC), said, “BVG offered me Rs12,000 for one shift. I served for 24 hours because I needed extra money. They assured me Rs45,000 and I joined in June 2014. For three months I got only between Rs32-37,000.”
In September 2014, Khan’s ambulance collided with a ST bus near Chhatrapati Square. Khan, who was seated in the front seat, received head and neck injuries. “There was heavy bleeding from head. Passers-by took me to a private hospital. BVG paid for my basic treatment. The day after being admitted I was discharged and I felt the company was pushing the hospital to do so,” he said.
“Within 15 days, I was asked to be back on duty even though doctors had told me not to travel. At the PHC, we did not even have a rest room. After being asked to resume duties, I had to spend a night at PHC and I experienced severe neck pain. It was stressful so I asked for a desk job. For a few months I was given that in Nagpur but soon I was put back on ambulance duty at Pachgaon. After the accident, they even stopped my salary. For the last two years I am paying for physiotherapy myself. I decided to quit,” he said.
Khan, who has filed a case against BVG, claimed his lawyer entered into a deal with BVG and stopped responding to him.
Dr Dnyaneshwar Shelke, COO, Emergency Medical Service, BVG group, said, “Our ambulances have a vehicle insurance of Rs10 lakh under which even the occupants are covered. We are also considering accident insurance of Rs10 lakh and a mediclaim of Rs50,000 for the people in the ambulance.”
SQ Zama, working president of INTUC state unit and former MLC, said, “The law mandates that every employer provide provident fund, personal life insurance, medical insurance to staffers. It is a gross injustice if such things are happening, that too in emergency medical services field. The employees and their dependants both will be at risk if they are not given all facilities.”