Ambulances in the city also carry the dead.

Like a hearse, which obviously does not need any facility like a defibrillator or a sphygmomanometer, most of the ambulances hardly have any advanced equipment, forget the life-saving ones.

“Ek ambulance ka kam hota hai mareez ko achchhe se hospital tak pahuchana naki uska ilaaj karna. So ye sab machine hum rakh kar bhi kya karenge (the job of an ambulance is to safely transport the patient to the hospital and not to treat the patient. So what will we do even if we keep these machines)?” said Naveen Kumar, the owner-cum-driver of an ambulance, which was parked outside the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) premises.

“My ambulance has an oxygen cylinder and a stretcher, which I think is sufficient for a critical patient,” added the 35-year-old man when asked why the ambulance did not have an ECG machine.

But is it sufficed for a real critical patient? “My wife endured an arduous 85km journey on a ramshackle ambulance on Sunday,” said Ramsaran Mehta of Nalanda, the chief minister’s home district. He had no option but to hire a private ambulance as doctors in the district referred his wife to the PMCH, considered the premier health destination in the state.

Sujeet Tiwari, another private ambulance owner outside PMCH, had a similar answer when asked about the lack of devices in his vehicle. “We have oxygen cylinder, a stretcher and a first aid kit comprising bandages and antibiotic lotion.”

Tiwari claimed that he transports patients to hospitals in other states like Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka successfully with his limited facilities. He, too, does not believe in expert assistance by paramedics. He said: “The patients’ relatives help me lift the ailing on to the ambulance,” added Tiwari.

Naveen also ruled out any professional help: “I do not need paramedics for my ambulance. I take care while lifting the patients. I have been doing this for the past 10 years. My ambulance has never been checked by the administration.”

The administration, believe doctors also, has a better role to play in monitoring the functioning of ambulances. Ajay Sinha, a cardiologist with Magadh Hospital, said: “A private ambulance is the Yamraj on road. There have been plenty of instances when critical patients have been brought dead to hospitals. Ambulance services are known as pre-hospital management, which can save lives. The administration should have been more proactive in monitoring the service.”

Senior health department officials, on the other hand, said they could not do much in absence of a policy.

R.P. Ojjha, the department’s additional secretary, said: “At present, we do not have any provision to regulate private ambulances.”

His senior, Vyasji, the principal secretary, said: “I will have to check whether or not there are regulations for private ambulances.”

Provisions have recently been chalked out by the Union government (see chart) but the same has not probably reached the state yet.

Till, the guidelines are executed, the ambulances will ferry the dead, or patients gasping for breath on deathbed. The ambulance drivers have no qualms too. “Government ambulances do not ferry the dead. But we do,” said Naveen.

Munna Sharma, another ambulance driver, said: “We do not get time to clean the vehicles also.” What about the high chance of infection? “We are too busy to ferry patients and the dead round the clock. Where will we squeeze in time to clean and sterilise the vehicles?” the Class XII passout said with a smile.

In fact, the government services of Dial 102 and Dial 108 have better facilities. However, most of the people, especially in the rural areas, do not know about their existence also. The Dial 102 ambulances, 24 in number in Patna district, have basic facilities . The Dial 108 ambulances, only 10 in total in the district and five of these have been kept for cardiac care, have ventilator, syringe pump, scoop stretcher, ECG machine and cardiac monitor also.