Shillong, July 24: The Meghalaya government is preparing the tendering procedure to select the new firm to run the 108 Ambulance Service which is expected to complete by September.
Talking to reporters after meeting the employees of the 108 Ambulance service, Health Minister, Ampareen Lyngdoh said that they would again meet the employees in October to brief on the status of the tendering process.
She also made it clear that it is not possible for the state government to run the Ambulance service on its own.
Currently, the 108 Ambulance service is being run by the state National Health Mission (NHM), is yet to be operated by a new company permanently.
Earlier, the 108 service was run by the GVK- EMRI, but last year the state government served the closure notice to the company following which the ambulance service is being run by NHM for the past 1 year.
Meanwhile, Meghalaya EMRI Workers’ Union (MEMRIWU) adviser, Susan Lyngdoh said that they have requested the state government to expedite the exercise.
According to her, the employees at the moment are only getting fixed salaries with no other facilities since the NHM is running the service on a temporary basis.
She further said that the Health Minister has sought three months’ time.