Free Ambulance Service 24 Hours Operates in Jakarta and Palembang

PANGKALPINANG — Residents of Bangka Belitung who must seek treatment outside the islands now have access to a free 24-hour ambulance service in Jakarta and Palembang. The program is designed to ease the heavy transport costs that often hit referral patients and their families the moment they arrive in a big city.

Through a humanitarian program called “SAHABAT HIDAYAT ARSANI,” the Bangka Belitung Provincial Government is cutting away bureaucracy and high costs for patients who need help fast.

The move is expected to reduce the financial burden on families already struggling with serious illness. In many cases, renting a private ambulance or hiring a special vehicle from the airport to a referral hospital in Jakarta or Palembang can cost millions of rupiah for a single trip.

Free Ambulance Service Eases the Cost of Care

The regional government is focusing this service on the most critical points in the patient transfer process. The 24-hour free ambulance operation includes pickups from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK) in Tangerang and Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport (SMB II) in Palembang.

Patients are then taken directly to major referral hospitals or to the Babel Provincial Government shelter house, which serves as a temporary stopover.

Hidayat Arsani, the Acting Governor of Bangka Belitung, said the state must be present when citizens are at their most vulnerable. He stressed that matters of life and death should not be slowed by administrative barriers or lack of transport money.

“Public health is our dignity and top priority. We do not want a single Bangka Belitung resident to feel alone or have their right to treatment blocked just because they are worried about ambulance costs in Jakarta or Palembang,” Hidayat said at the launch of the vehicle service.

Based on referral data from the health office, hundreds of patients from Babel are sent outside the region every year for more advanced medical treatment. Most are referred to national hospitals such as Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo National General Hospital (RSCM) in Jakarta or Dr. Mohammad Hoesin General Hospital in Palembang.

Who Can Use the Free Ambulance

The medical vehicle runs on a priority scale to keep operations accountable and efficient in the field. Babel’s provincial government has set five main criteria for patients who can use the free 24-hour ambulance service:

• Elderly patients with physical limitations or difficulty moving independently.
• Patients with disabilities who require special assistance or equipment.
• Patients whose daily mobility depends on a wheelchair or other walking aids.
• Patients in weak physical condition who face higher risks if forced to use mass public transport.
• Non-critical patients whose condition is stable and who do not need heavy resuscitation equipment such as a ventilator during the trip.

This strict screening is meant to prevent overlap in service use. It also ensures that the emergency facility is truly available to the groups that need medical logistics support the most.

Emergency Contact Numbers and Registration Flow

To make communication easier in situations that demand a fast response, the Babel Provincial Government has appointed regional coordinators who remain on standby. Family members or patients can contact the officers by phone or through WhatsApp.

To make sure the program reaches even the villages, special instructions have been sent to the lower levels of the bureaucracy. All agency heads, subdistrict chiefs, and village heads across Bangka Belitung have been asked to actively share the emergency contact numbers with residents.

No one should be delayed in getting referred simply because they do not know the right number to call.

Going forward, close coordination with the management of the Babel shelter houses in Jakarta and Palembang will continue so patient pickups can run without technical obstacles at the airport.