First aid: paid transportation

Author: ambulance doctor Deryushev A.N.

The ambulance service delivers patients in cases where emergency hospitalization is required. That is, in such patients, as a rule, there is a referral with the indication of the date of hospitalization and the name of the medical institution. In addition, it must be borne in mind that the patient is in a condition that does not allow him to independently reach the medical institution, in some cases transportation is required in a semi-sitting or lying position using a stretcher.

All other cases in the ambulance are not included. In some cities there is a social taxi service that provides specialized transportation for patients in wheelchairs for a moderate fee, usually such transport is available from social security agencies. The forces of such transport can be used to transport patients to medical institutions (hospitals and polyclinics), as well as transportation from a medical institution home after discharge or inspection. In addition, patients and their relatives, in large cities, can take advantage of numerous offers for transportation by specialized transport available from private companies that perform ambulance services on a paid basis.

Such firms provide comfortable transport equipped with medical equipment that allows you to monitor the condition of a serious patient during transportation and, if necessary, provide him with qualified medical assistance on the road, since in these cases the transportation is carried out accompanied by specially trained medical personnel. In addition, if necessary, the patient is transported not only "to the entrance", but with a rise to the floor of heavy, stretcher patients.

As a rule, the price list of the prices of such firms provides for various options, including the price of the climb to the floor is calculated depending on the number of floors. The calculation should be made not in cash, but at the cashier's office with an extract of the receipt for the service. All other options are generally considered illegal and conducted privately. Thus, there is the freedom to choose which transport for the patient's delivery can be used - from ordinary taxis and personal transport, to specialized transport teams of private medical firms.

The main condition for this choice, of course, must be the interests of the sick person, its convenience, and therefore the delivery of the patient, first of all, should not worsen his condition and well-being. The financial factor also matters, since not every patient can afford to pay for an ambulance service, which means that in such cases it makes sense to use the offers of social services, whose prices for services can be much lower, and where discounts for disabled people and others are undoubtedly provided categories of citizens. Paid first aid for pregnant women has its own peculiarities.

Finally, when the patient is transported by the emergency ambulance brigade, this is in most cases done free of charge, unless this is agreed in advance as providing a paid service. In some substations of the ambulance, such a service can exist and this can be asked in advance by the ambulance dispatcher. In the same place you should explain the procedure for providing such a service and the form of payment, as a rule, it is also carried out through the cashier's office of the medical institution, in particular the ambulance station.

Some large medical institutions can have a transportation service, which also deals with the delivery of patients both to a medical institution from home and home after discharge. To do this, it is necessary to ask the administration of the medical institution for the conditions of such deliveries.