New Delhi, Nov 5 (SocialNews.XYZ) Quick commerce platform Blinkit on Thursday introduced a flat fee of Rs 2,500 for non-emergency ambulance bookings, while continuing to offer emergency transfers free of charge, as the company seeks to ensure greater availability of its fleet for critical medical situations.
Announcing the change, Deepinder Goyal, founder of Eternal, said the move was prompted by growing instances of ambulances being used for routine purposes such as doctor consultations, regular check-ups and hospital-to-home transfers that could otherwise be handled by conventional transport services.
According to Goyal, Blinkit's ambulance service has handled around 42,000 cases over the past two years, including nearly 20,000 emergency runs, without charging patients for the service.
"I started Zomato with a spirit of service. Blinkit Ambulance is what that spirit of service looks like today. In the last 2 years, we have served 20,000 emergency cases (42,000 cases in total). We haven't charged a single rupee for any of them. And we want to keep it that way," Goyal noted.
However, the company observed that a significant share of bookings involved non-emergency requirements, putting pressure on the availability of ambulances for urgent cases.
"With everything free, a growing share of bookings are for routine checkups, hospital visits and hospital-to-home transfers, trips that an Uber or private transport could have handled just as easily. Every such booking keeps a fully equipped emergency ambulance with paramedics off the road when someone's life may depend on it," he stated.
"So we are making a change from now onwards: Emergency transfers – free, as always. Non-emergency transfers – Rs 2,500, charged after the trip. Broadly in line with what private ambulances charge. This money goes to Eternal Foundation, which runs these ambulances and will help us scale them even further," Goyal added.
He said the company expects the fee to substantially reduce non-emergency usage and help maintain the availability of its 10-minute ambulance service for life-threatening situations.
“10-minute ambulances have saved and can save thousands of lives, and we need to keep them available for emergencies that need them the most,” he said in a post on X.
Source: IANS
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