Related News
Illegal ambulance service busted, 23 held
Print Edition
SHANGHAI police has detained 23 people after a recent crackdown on bogus ambulance service, officers said yesterday.
Most of the illegal ambulances were registered with hospitals in other provinces, and provincial police are investigating how they managed to hook up with the hospitals.
Fourteen second-hand vehicles were found to have been repainted and refitted with inferior quality medical equipment.
A group of 10-plus people made a profit of more than 11.5 million yuan (US$1.86 million) in four years’ time, police said.
One of the victims of the scam was a cancer patient surnamed Chen, who was receiving treatment in Shanghai. After doctors at Ruijin Hospital told him in March that he wouldn’t live much longer, Chen’s family decided to take him back to their hometown in Taicang, Jiangsu Province.
They called up the “emergency center” number on one of the flyers and asked for an ambulance on March 10.
The number belonged to a Henan Province native, surnamed Ma, who was a former truck driver but ran the illegal ambulance service in the city.
Ma bought an old ambulance from a hospital in his hometown in Zhoukou City and repainted it to look like an authorized one in Shanghai.
He would hand out leaflets outside hospitals and asked some hospital workers to introduce him to patients.
Ma told Chen’s family that it would cost them 1,600 yuan for the service. He got his friend Li to pick them up near Ruijin Hospital. The driver was dressed in a medical outfit, and a “doctor” accompanied the family.
But Chen’s situation worsened when the “ambulance” just made it to the expressway. Li and the “doctor” demanded another 6,400 yuan from the family, or threatened to leave them on the road. They only continued on the journey after receiving 8,000 yuan from them.
Ma and his accomplices were later nabbed by officers. Ma said he charged 6 to 7 yuan per kilometer, but with a “doctor” he would charge 10 yuan. He would pay 20 percent as commission to the “doctor.”
Another man, surnamed Wang, had three bogus ambulances registered with a Henan-based hospital. He has been running the racket since 2009. Wang paid a search engine company to advertise online and forged hospital documents to promote his business.
Sixteen forged hospital seals and two knives were seized from him during raids.
A police officer surnamed Sun said the vehicles did not even go through any maintenance work, and were of poor quality, making the ride even more dangerous.
The medical equipment were unlicensed and did not meet the medical standard, police said.
They said the suspects hadn’t received any medical training.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
