The rulebook of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) states "no private ambulance can be stationed on the hospital premises", but such a fleet can be found on its campus 24x7.

On Thursday, The Telegraph spotted 37 private ambulances on the PMCH campus. Sources said most of the ambulances have engaged middlemen who misguide patients and take them to private hospitals.

Last year, the hospital administration had lodged an FIR against one of its employees after it found him taking away a patient to a private hospital with the help of a private ambulance driver.

PMCH superintendent Lakhendra Prasad pleaded helplessness when asked why the hospital administration was not taking any action against such ambulance operators.

"Not a single private ambulance is allowed inside the hospital. Those who bring patients are supposed to drive away their vehicles soon after dropping the patient. If a patient admitted in the hospital calls up a private ambulance, it can surely come and pick up the patient, but in no way is it allowed to keep the vehicle on the hospital campus," said Prasad.

He added: "Whenever I find any private ambulance in the hospital, I ask them to leave. It is impossible for me to keep a tab on the private ambulances as the hospital campus is huge and at present we are short on security guards. Though we have 75 security guards, they work in shifts. We were in the process of hiring 75 more security guards but the process was stalled midway because of a pending legal case."

Some of the private ambulance operators admitted they had not taken permission from the hospital to park their vehicles on the hospital campus.

One of them was Upendra Kumar, who said he has been parking his ambulance in the PMCH for the past six months. "Never sought any permission from the hospital," he boasted.

Prashant Kumar, another private ambulance owner who was found resting in his vehicle, said he has been doing the same for the past two years. " Kaisa permission? (What permission)?" he asked.

Nagina Yadav, an attendant of a patient who was seen outside the emergency ward, said a private ambulance operator had approached him for taking his brother Arjun to a private hospital when they reached PMCH on Monday night.

"We were being told that my brother would not get proper care at PMCH and so we should better take him to a private facility. We don't have money for a private hospital's treatment. We refused," said Yadav.

A PMCH doctor said private ambulance drivers work in connivance with the hospital staff.

"It is impossible for them to transport patient to a private hospital without the support of our staff," he said.