SHILLONG, Dec 24: Experts and bidders have stated that it would be a waste of time to issue a new tender for the 108 ambulance services and have asked the state government to reconsider its plan.
Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh recently acknowledged that the government is consulting with Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma regarding certain irregularities that have been noticed in the current tendering process for the appointment of a company to run the 108 ambulance services.
In order to prevent a legal dispute, she added, the government is amenable to the notion of releasing new tenders.
Seven companies have submitted their bids in response to the government’s tender notice.
According to the experts, even if the government issued a new tender, it wouldn’t result in any more participation and would only cause the appointment of an operator to oversee the vital lifesaving service in the state, which has been in a slump for the past two years, to take longer.
Some believed that the government’s best course of action would be to reevaluate the bids with a new high power committee made up of senior healthcare officials and domain experts because anomalies had been found in the tender.
