Ill health of a family member not only brings stress to relatives but even adds strain on their finances. In such a scenario, people can expect some respite as there will be a uniform tariff rate for ambulances across the state.

The patients’ relatives, who have to haggle with ambulance operators over the charges, will soon heave a huge sigh of relief. The Bombay high court (HC) has directed the state regional transport officers (RTOs) to fix tariffs for ambulances in the state.

Acting on a public interest litigation filed by Thane activist Nainesh Dolas, the HC directed Laxman P Khade, deputy transport commissioner, Maharashtra to fix rates for ambulances by October 31.

In his reply, Khade informed the court that the RTO has already fixed rates for 18 regions in the state and the rest will be fixed by October 31. There are 43 RTOs in Maharashtra.The private ambulance services arbitrarily quote a price for shifting a patient to hospital or home.

“The charge for government-run ambulance is Rs5 per kilometre. But the private ambulance do not have any fixed tariffs. They charge arbitrarily,” said Dolas. He also added that the charges should be based on proper classification of ambulances. There are basic ambulances, air-conditioned, non-air conditioned and cardiac ambulances.

“There are some ambulances which have oxygen cylinders while some do not have them. There should be some uniformity about the basic amenities available in the ambulances,” he said, adding that RTO should do registration of these ambulances. “There are many ambulances which are funded from MLA/corporator funds or donated by political parties. Even they should be registered,” he said.Rule in placeRegions as per RTO which have fixed tariffs for ambulances

Nagpur, Amravati, Latur, Nanded, Nashik, Kolhapur, Gadchiroli, Sangli, Jalgaon, Sindhudurg, Satara, Vashind, Gondia, Nandurbar, Akluj and Solapur.

Yet to be implementedRegions which need to have fixed tariffs for ambulances by Oct 31

Mumbai (east, west, central), Thane, Panvel, Pune, Dhule, Aurangabad, Ratnagiri, Karad, Baramati, Shrirampur, Beed, Osmanabad, Parbhani, Buldhana, Yavatmal, Akola, Vardha, Chandrapur and Bhandara.