Employees of the 108 EMRI emergency services have ceased work and are waiting for a written assurance from the State government to fulfill their demands.
The Meghalaya EMRI Workers Union (MEMRIWU) is demanding the state to take over the service from the private GVK.
“We have shut our service from the midnight of January 3 and there is no 108 service in the state at present and all 108 ambulances have returned to their respective office station in Khasi Hills including there at Tura and Phullbari,” Publicity Secretary-MEMRIWU, Joseph Pyngrope told Highland Post today.
Informing that even though the Mission Director Health department yesterday through a Zoom meeting assured them that their demands have been considered since December 2021 and asked them to call off their agitation, Pyngrope however said that they want a written assurance.
“Last time we were betrayed and the assurances given by the former Health Minister AL Hek amounted to nothing. This time we will not accept any verbal assurances and will not call off the ongoing agitation or resume services until and unless we get a written assurance from the government that the emergency service should be a government undertaking,” he said.
The workers want the government to take over 108 services by not extending the contract with the GVK, that will end on March 31, 2022, he added.
Pyngrope said that GVK has miserably failed to achieve the target as per the state requirement and neither can it fulfill the required number of ambulances, equipment, and manpower besides ignoring the benefits and rights of the employees.
“We did not even get our annual increment since 2017 including arrear which shows the incompetency of the GVK and we will no longer tolerate it,” he added.
Informing that at present the MD and Meghalaya health minister is out of the station, he maintained that they will not compromise anything that is outside the demand.
He said that the government is to blame and has to take responsibility because the 108 attend not fewer than 50 emergency cases in the state per day and that the strike will severely affect the public.
“We have not resorted to this type of agitation abruptly but approach everything step by step since 2018 and the government cannot ignore the vital service we give to the public,” he said.
