SHILLONG: Health Minister of Meghalaya, AL Hek has asked a detailed report from the Secretary of the department about the on-going strike by the employees of the GVK EMRI 108 Ambulance service while making it clear that the Government would have to terminate the contract with the firm if the services were not restored at the earliest.
Speaking to newsmen here on Friday, Hek said that the report had been sought to know as to what exactly was happening in the EMRI service.
Expressing concern over the dislocation of service which has largely affected the people in need of medical service, he added that the Government was concerned with the agency to which the responsibility of running the service has been assigned.
“We are not directly concerned with the employees but with the service, he said while making it clear that the Government couldn’t hand over the service to any other firm until the agreement with GVK EMRI is terminated
Lamenting that the common people continue to suffer, he added that the Department was doing whatever possible to serve the people in the absence of the 108 ambulance services.
“We are sending ambulances and mobile unit to attend to emergency cases,” Hek said even as he stressed on the need for the management and the staffs to permanently solve the matter for once and all.
It may be mentioned that more than 200 ambulance drivers and other respondents of Meghalaya GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI) 108 ambulance service have been on an indefinite strike for the last 19 days.
The strike, organised under the banner of Meghalaya EMRI Workers’ Union (MEMRIWU), started on September 30, with protesters demanding that the government immediately terminate the contract with GVK EMRI, and take over the emergency services.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma earlier had made it clear that the state government had no plan to take over the management of the 108 emergency services in the state