Etawah, Jan 8 (IANS): With the seizure of 19 ambulances stationed outside the Institute of Medical Sciences in Saifai, a major ambulance scam has come to light.

Saifai sub-divisional magistrate Sudhanshu Srivastava said that the administration was regularly receiving complaints from various quarters about private ambulances, whose drivers would mislead the patients and then take them to private hospitals for treatment.

The private hospital operators used to extort huge amounts in the name of treatment and in lieu pay commission to the ambulance drivers, he said.

"All these ambulances do not meet the norms. A fine of around Rs 2,55,000 has also been imposed," he said.

Saifai sub-divisional magistrate Sudhanshu Srivastava, additional regional transport officer Brajesh Yadav and tehsildar Javed Ansari jointly conducted the drive and took the impounded ambulances to the Saifai police station for further action on Sunday.

“We are trying to ascertain the owners of the seized private ambulances, besides their association with private hospitals. Seized vehicles included ambulances with registration numbers from Agra, Rajasthan, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh,” the SDM added.

According to reports, a group of eager ambulance drivers would wait outside the Saifai hospital and inquire about patient’s illness from their attendants.

They would then rant about poor facilities and faculties at the hospital -- even mentioning a few fictional cases that went horridly wrong -- and then offering them a free ride to a "friendly" private hospital where they would be fleeced.

After medical university officials received scores of such complaints, they took up the matter with the district authorities.

The issue was also important as the Saifai medical university receives cases from several districts in western Uttar Prdaesh as well as neighbouring Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.