The coalition government has initially concluded that the Aurobindo has looted from the previous YCP Rs 175 crore more in the operation of 108 and 104 ambulances in Andhra Pradesh. It has been found that an additional amount of Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 60,000 was paid to the Aurobindo over and above the cost of operating each ambulance.
In order to bring medical services closer to the villagers, the tender for mobile medical units under the National Health Mission was handed over to Aurobindo by the then Jaganmohan Reddy government. Rs. 1,80,225 was paid per month for each of the 104 vehicles.
Rs. 16,000 was paid to the driver for driving each vehicle in the selected villages for 26 days in the month, Rs. 15,000 to the DEO who records the details, and Rs. 60,000 to the doctor who conducts the medical examinations.
Even if the fuel cost is Rs.9000 to Rs.10,000 per month, each one costs up to one lakh. Even if another Rs.10,000 to Rs.20,000 is spent on other expenses, the average does not exceed Rs.1.20 lakh per month.
These vehicles were provided by the state government. On the other hand, the government itself distributed medicines free of cost. All things considered, the Aurobindo management had an average of Rs.55,000 to Rs.60,000 left per month on each vehicle.
The government itself appointed doctors in 2022 under the family physician concept. The Rs.60,000 paid to them as a monthly salary was deducted from the vehicle usage cost. Even after looking at this, there was no cut in the profit earned by the management of Aurobindo companies.
Contrary to the spirit of not running services for profit, payments were made to Aurobindo like a corporate company. Despite spending hundreds of crores, the additional benefit to patients with 104 services is zero. Of the 108 ambulances, Rs. 2,28,000 per month was paid for the old ones and Rs. 1,78,000 for the new ones.
While 731 ambulances were to be operated, only 670 were found to have been operated at the field level. But the money was paid for 731 vehicles. As these vehicles were used more for dialysis and referral cases, the expectation increased and the use of ambulances decreased.
The then YSRCP government started to show affection towards Aurobindo by imposing small fines for the management of these ambulances that had gone astray. In this context, the Aurobindo management informed the AP government last week that it would step down from the responsibilities of operating 108 and 104 services. It is noteworthy that the letter stated that it was difficult to operate the services due to lack of cash flow.