Gyeonggi-do, Illegal Operation of Private Ambulances Remains 'Unchanged'

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Illegal operation of private ambulances in Gyeonggi Province has been found to be serious. Accordingly, Gyeonggi Province has proposed a legal amendment to the government requesting authority to investigate illegal operations of private ambulances.

According to Gyeonggi Province on the 14th, from September 2018 to June this year, the province conducted intensive crackdowns on 15 emergency patient transport companies (180 ambulances) in the province and detected 16 violations of the Emergency Medical Service Act in 12 companies, accounting for 80%.

The details of the violations are ▲no emergency medical technician on board (1 case) ▲operating with an unlicensed ambulance (1 case) ▲using ambulances for purposes other than intended (1 case) ▲excessive charges beyond the statutory transport treatment fees (2 cases) ▲failure to meet the ambulance ownership standards (1 case) ▲failure to submit dispatch and treatment records to the Emergency Medical Support Center (8 cases) ▲failure to keep operation logbooks and dispatch/treatment records (1 case) ▲failure to prepare operation logbooks (1 case), etc.

The province particularly believes that a significant number of cases involving failure to submit or keep operation records may have involved operating without carrying emergency patients.

Looking at the number of violations by year, there were 9 cases in 2018 (September to December), 13 cases in 2019, and 2 cases in 2020 (January to June).

Among the detected cases, the province suspended operations for 7 to 15 days for 15 companies and imposed fines ranging from 400,000 to 500,000 KRW for 11 cases. Of these, 10 cases received both suspension and fines simultaneously.

A provincial official said, "Since the launch of the 7th local government, under the direction of Governor Lee Jae-myung of Gyeonggi Province, we have conducted 24 inspections targeting emergency patient transport companies and private ambulances so far," adding, "We will continue to conduct inspections to eradicate illegal activities that exploit public health and safety for profit."

Earlier, in September 2018, Governor Lee stated in a Facebook live broadcast, "Because there are fake ambulances that do not carry emergency patients, people do not give way, but we need to break this distrust of such (fake ambulances)," and warned, "We will prevent such acts from happening in the future," signaling strong crackdowns.

Since then, the province has formed an inspection team of 42 members including the Special Judicial Police Unit and even organized a 'tracking team' to conduct intensive inspections. However, the province explains that under current laws, there are limitations in cracking down on private ambulances.

Accordingly, in July 2018, the province proposed to the Ministry of Justice an amendment to the 'Act on Persons Performing Judicial Police Duties and Their Scope of Duties' to include the Emergency Medical Service Act within judicial police duties. This year, the province additionally requested related legal amendments twice in March and June.

The province expects that once the law is amended, the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police Unit will be able to investigate ambulances, significantly reducing illegal activities such as fake ambulances.