Thanh Hoa Hospital Explains How Private Ambulance Entered Its Grounds in 16km, $350 Patient Transport Case

Thanh Hoa General Hospital says a private ambulance entered its grounds after a patient's family contacted the service, in a case involving more than 9 million dong in medicine and transport costs for a 16-kilometer trip home.

Hospital leaders said the facility had barred outside ambulances from parking on its premises for about two years. They said private emergency-transport operators nevertheless sometimes blend into the hospital, approach families of seriously ill patients in wards and offer their services.

The hospital said families negotiate the charges directly with the transport providers, and that the hospital cannot always control the arrangements. It has reported the matter to police and asked the provincial Department of Health to intervene because no private provider has received a license from the department to offer this service in Thanh Hoa.

The hospital also rejected information that a doctor accompanied the patient and advised the family to use medication intended to maintain the patient's life. It said the person on the ambulance was an employee of the vehicle operator, not hospital staff. The provincial health department is working to establish that person's identity.

The family said it paid for seven bottles of medication each day at 600,000 dong per bottle, or 4.2 million dong daily, and paid another 5.3 million dong for transport, breathing tubes, a suction machine and other equipment. The Health Ministry's Department of Medical Examination and Treatment has asked Thanh Hoa authorities to verify the case. The provincial health department has also sent guidance to hospitals and medical facilities to tighten controls.

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When family members contact them, they let the vehicle enter to take the patient home. The service costs are negotiated between the family and the vehicle operator. The hospital cannot always control this.