TWO ambulance drivers from two different hospitals fought over a patient in front of the inpatient building of Bao’an District People’s Hospital on Sunday night, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.

    The patient’s family blames the Bao’an hospital and the city’s emergency center for lax supervision, saying the fight may have delayed the man’s medical treatment.

    One of the drivers, surnamed Guo, received a phone call at around 9 p.m. Sunday from the son of the elderly patient at Bao’an District People’s Hospital, saying that he needed an ambulance to drive his father to Meizhou City from the Bao’an hospital. Guo, who works for Jian’an Hospital in Mingzhi, Longgang District, accepted the business for 6,000 yuan (US$938) and drove to Bao’an hospital.

    When he arrived at the hospital, Guo was informed that his ambulance service was no longer needed. As Guo was about to drive back, he saw medical workers transferring the elderly patient into an ambulance from Xuexiang Hospital in Bantian.

    Guo approached the driver of the other ambulance, surnamed Chen, and argued with him. The argument escalated into a physical fight. Both drivers were taken into police custody.

    The patient’s son, surnamed Liu, admitted to having called the two hospitals since the Bao’an hospital does not provide ambulance service. “I found the contact information for the ambulances in the hospital but they charged differently for the same service. I had no idea if they were both qualified,” he said.

    A number of patients and their relatives in the Bao’an hospital told the newspaper that they saw many flyers advertising ambulance services being distributed in the hospital.

    A manager at the hospital, surnamed Liang, said the hospital doesn’t allow people to pass out flyers. “But it is very difficult to prevent them from entering the hospital as it is an open public place,” Liang said.

    Liu also blamed the city’s emergency center for failing to regulate the ambulance market.

    “It is their obligation to check the qualifications of these ambulances and regulate them,” Liu said.

    The brawl between the two drivers highlights the deficiencies of ambulance service in Shenzhen, the Daily said

    A medical staff member, who refused to be named, told the Daily that many patients and their families have difficulty finding escort services because there aren’t enough ambulances in the city.

    Statistics from 2014 showed that the city’s emergency center has only around 100 ambulances in all hospitals. Based on Ministry of Public Health requirements, Shenzhen should have at least 260 ambulances to serve the population of 13 million.

    The city’s emergency center has an online system where 32 hospitals and medical institutions can coordinate patient transportation.

    The Sunday night incident showed that ambulance services face challenges like unqualified employees, unregulated advertisements and a lack of charging standards. (Zhang Qian)