Fees for the use of city-owned ambulances and other similar emergency vehicles will soon be collected.
The city council approved on first reading the proposed ordinance authored by Vice Mayor Faustino A. Olowan that sought to collect fees for the use of city-owned ambulances and other similar emergency vehicles to transport patients to hospitals or health facilities or when these are used as standby cars.
The ordinance added that fees shall only be collected from parties requesting to transport patients to or from their residences or from hospitals to other hospitals or medical facilities or when these are requested to be used as medical standbys.
However, no fees shall be collected in situations where the ambulance responded to accidents, emergencies, or natural disaster occurrences where there is a need to transport victims to hospitals or medical facilities.
Under the proposed ordinance, the City Treasury Office shall collect the medical transport fees of P500 for one-way trip within Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay (BLISTT) and P30 per kilometer for every trip and payment of actual cost of fuel if these travel or are used outside the BLISTT.
If the vehicles are used as medical standby cars, the City Treasury Office is authorized to collect P150 per hour per individual personnel assigned by the City Health Services Office, City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, or the Bureau of Fire Protection to attend to the patient.
It should also pay P750 per personnel if the vehicle is on medical standby not exceeding four hours and additional P150 per hour per personnel beyond four hours.
The fee to be collected if the vehicles are used is P1,500 per personnel for medical standby for eight hours.
The ordinance provides that the collection of fees for medical standbys shall only be applicable for private events and activities and not for city-sponsored activities. – PIO release
April 24, 2024
