108 services takeover likely by October

SHILLONG, July 24: The Meghalaya government is working on roping in a new firm to run the 108 ambulance services, tentatively by October this year.
Talking to reporters after meeting the employees of 108 ambulance services here on Monday, Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh said that the National Health Mission (NHM), which is currently running the ambulance service on a temporary basis, has already conveyed to the employees that the procedure of selecting a new firm is likely to be completed by September.
“…if it is September, we have a little over two months to complete this procedure. We will be able to communicate and update the employees on the steps which have been taken around October 15,” the health minister said.
Lyngdoh hoped that the NHM will be able to put in place a company that will run the ambulance services and augment its potential and also take care of the workers.
She said that the reason behind the delay in completing the tender process was technical difficulties.
“We also had elections and the model code of conduct was applied. The model code of conduct continued till around about May due to the deferred bye-election in Sohiong. So now we are in an active stage where we are actually ready to go,” the minister said.
Earlier, the 108 ambulance services were run by the GVK-EMRI. However, last year, the state government served a closure notice to the company and the NHM took over its operations, and has been running the show for the past year.
On behalf of the employees of the ambulance services, Meghalaya EMRI Workers’ Union adviser, Susan Lyngdoh has requested the state government to expedite the exercise of roping in a new firm.
She revealed that the employees, at the moment, are only paid fixed salaries with no other facilities since the NHM is running the service on a temporary basis.