Jiangxi hospital fined, services suspended over $3,900 ambulance fee

(ECNS) -- The Health Commission of East China's Jiangxi Province has ordered a hospital to refund 28,000 yuan (about $3,900) to a patient's family and suspended its medical transfer services after a privately operated ambulance charged the sum for a cross-province journey, officials said Wednesday.

The health commission stated it will conduct further investigations and strengthen oversight of ambulance services, according to an official notice.

A father surnamed Tang reported Monday that he was charged 28,000 yuan to transport his critically ill child from Jiangxi Provincial Children's Hospital in Nanchang to Shanghai in April, a journey of 800 kilometers.

The fee far exceeds the 11,000 yuan standard rate published by Nanchang Emergency Center and was directly transferred to the driver's personal account with no itemized receipt, Tang said.

The hospital said it could not carry out inter-provincial transfers and referred the family to Nanchang Ganyi Hospital Co. Ltd., a privately operated medical provider, because the patient required specialized equipment, including ventilators and ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), that public emergency ambulances could not supply.

It added that it had "no affiliation" with the private company but admitted failing to disclose fee standards in advance.

Professor Liu Xiaobing of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics urged authorities to break the ambulance monopoly.

"Introducing competition between state and private operators in vehicles, equipment, and personnel would improve services while allowing reasonable profits,"Liu said. "Ultimately, this could save more lives through efficient medical transfers."

(By Zhang Dongfang)