Blinkit Ambulance will now charge Rs 2,500 for non-emergency bookings, Zomato founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal has announced. The charge will apply to bookings made for non-emergency journeys, such as routine hospital visits and hospital-to-home transfers.

Emergency ambulance services, however, will continue to be available free of charge.Goyal says the move is aimed at discouraging people from using fully equipped emergency ambulances for routine hospital visits, so that they remain available for patients who need urgent medical attention.In a post on X, Goyal said: “I started Zomato with a spirit of service. Blinkit Ambulance is what that spirit of service looks like today.” He added that the company wants to continue offering emergency ambulance services free of charge.Why is Blinkit charging for ambulance services?Goyal reveals that Blinkit's free ambulance service has handled around 42,000 cases so far, including nearly 20,000 emergencies in the last two years.

However, the company has noticed a rise in bookings for routine check-ups, hospital visits and transfers from hospitals to patients' homes. These are journeys that people could otherwise make using an Uber or private transport.

Blinkit's ambulances are fully equipped emergency vehicles staffed by trained paramedics. Using them for routine journeys means they are unavailable to respond to patients who may need urgent medical attention.“Every such booking keeps a fully equipped emergency ambulance with paramedics off the road when someone's life may depend on it,” Goyal said.

To discourage such bookings and keep ambulances available for emergencies, Blinkit has now decided to charge a Rs 2,500 fee for non-emergency transfers. Emergency transfers will continue to be free.

Goyal said the charge is broadly in line with what private ambulance operators charge.The money collected will go to the Eternal Foundation, which operates Blinkit Ambulance, and will be used to expand the service.Goyal hopes the fee will reduce non-emergency bookings and keep more ambulances available for critical cases. “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.Meanwhile, Blinkit plans to expand its ambulance service to all major Indian cities over the next two to four years. Goyal said Albinder and his team are working towards making that happen.- Ends