Enforcement officials flag threats posed by ambulance misuse in Kochi
The Hindu
‘Vehicles being used as a cover for crimes like smuggling and ferrying of hawala cash’
Even as demand for ambulances peaked last year following the COVID-19 outbreak, police and Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) personnel say that instances of they being unnecessarily driven at high speeds and rash driving have gone up.
The privileges that ambulances enjoy — to overtake and enforcement personnel not waving them down for routine inspections — are, in many cases, being used as a cover for smuggling, ferrying of hawala cash, and other crimes, said a senior MVD official.
Pointing to the need to make it mandatory to have inbuilt, tamper-proof GPS in all ambulances, he said it would prevent their misuse to a large extent. There are individuals who own over 30 ambulances each, which operate for different organisations. Some of them consider them as money-spinners and fleece hapless patients who are in need of emergency care.
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