By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Nov 6: Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh has refused to be drawn into the controversy surrounding the bidding process for operating ambulance services in the state but said the bidders need to be disciplined.
Speaking to media persons here on Monday, she said a minister under no circumstances is privy to information about a tender procedure being supervised by a competent tender committee.
Asserting that the bidders have become very competitive and all feel they are the most competent to run the services, Lyngdoh said they are not here to serve a luxury service but to ensure that people get the best emergency services.
“We are not going to be distracted by this competitive argument between companies and submissions and counter-submissions will not solve the problem,” she said.
Pointing out that the 108 service had issues, she assured the bidders that they would be evaluated fairly. “What matters is that the service provider should be able to resolve any crisis that occurs,” she said.
“The Chief Minister and the council of ministers want our people to get the best ambulance service. We would like ambulances in every block with state-of-the-art facilities to help the ailing citizens,” she said.
Asking the bidders to wait for the selection procedure to be completed, she said they should avoid the media as their complaints have been sent to the correction authority for evaluation.
Hoping that the department is not pressured to cancel the bidding process, Lyngdoh asked the media to also stay away from the competitiveness of the companies.
“We want results and we will take the best of the best,” she said.
Clarification from bidder
One of the bidders in the ongoing tendering process, Medulance has distanced itself from the news reports that they have already got the tender for operating the 108 emergency services in the state.
Medulance co-founder, Ravjot Singh Arora clarified in a statement” “We completely dissociate ourselves from this wrong story that we have won the 108 emergency services in Meghalaya.”
He said they know the bidding process is underway and they respect the efforts of the government to be transparent.
“The press release draft approved from our side never said we had won the contract, but I believe a human error while publishing this story has led to the whole misunderstanding,” the clarification said.
