Patient transportation is taken over by the state: will tricks begin?

From July 1 the transport of patients is taken over by the state. This service will be paid for by the state budget from the taxpayers’ pocket. Municipalities will only transport patients who need hemodialysis. City authorities say that people are not informed about the changes. Even those who do not own such a service may be flooded with requests. About this – in the LNK report.

Since July, it will be free of charge to come to the treatment facility if you are disabled, over 75 years old or poor. All you have to do is call the short number 1808.

“We organize this service, register for the ride and validate whether the service belongs or not,” said Aleksandras Kasradze, head of the 1808 hotline.

The municipalities are happy that the state is taking over the transportation from them, but they say there will be challenges. The number of people who want to use it is growing rapidly.

The entire LNK report is in the video:

“Currently, the municipality transports up to 100 persons. From July, 2 thousand people will be able to apply. of the residents of the Vilnius district”, said Agnė Andriulytė, assistant to the mayor of the Vilnius district.

The hotline estimates that it receives 80 calls a day for a ride. However, many people do not know that from July they will no longer need to call the social worker, but the number 1808.

“A lot of information is needed, a lot of work and publicity is needed. The main thing that worked for us was live communication,” Vilkaviškis patient transport coordinator Agnė Sadauskienė assured.

Even those who do not own such a service may be flooded with requests.

“Communication should be made precisely so that there are as few frustrated calls as possible.” There will be them, we will not avoid them, we need to get used to the new order”, explained Audrius Klišonis, president of the Lep Association of Municipalities.

It takes a lot of information, a lot of work and publicity. Live communication worked best for us.

The patient will be taken to a treatment facility for one-day services, day surgery, rehabilitation, inpatient treatment, transplants. All this will be paid from the state budget funds from the taxpayers’ pockets. Municipalities will continue to organize transport, but only for hemodialysis. This ride will be paid for by the municipality itself.

“We’re carrying about 20 right now, and we’re up to 40 in total. They’re likely to sign up.” The rest are able-bodied and go to the treatment facility themselves,” said A. Andriulytė.

It is not clear to EMS workers whether they will have to transport all patients from now on. “Now we’ve got a glimpse that we’re going to have to do a ride-hailing service. We have not been introduced, (we are) lost and angry,” complained Jolanta Keburienė, chairperson of the emergency medical aid workers’ trade union “Solidarity”.

The ambulance management explains that they will be looking for drivers through public tenders. Only in rare cases when a patient needs health care, such as oxygen, will ambulances be called, but emergency calls are said to be unaffected. “Emergency calls are always a priority, if such cases happen, the ride is delayed, and our job would be to inform the patient, the treatment facility, that there will be a delay,” explained the manager of the 1808 hotline.

“Not only through the GMP, when buying a service on the market, there can be taxis, Bolts, other institutions that can have much larger resources,” said A. Klišonis.

Patients will not only be brought to the treatment facility free of charge, but will also be taken home.