The public are bearing the brunt of down-sizing within the EMRI 108 ambulance service, with hundreds of phone calls being missed out on because of a shortage of staff.
This is according to the EMRI workers’ union, whose president, M Syiemlieh, met with opposition MLA Himalaya Shangpliang today. The union’s members are on strike, claiming that they are underpaid and overworked. The emergency service workers want the state government to take over the running of EMRI from GVK or to at least appoint a new private partner.
Shangpliang demanded that immediate action be taken by the state government over the workers’ grievances.
According to Syiemlieh, there is only one person who takes emergency calls from the public per shift instead of the requisite six. There is a shortfall in the number of other employees as well, which means that the service cannot reach out to the public at large.
Shangpliang said that the 108 EMRI service is in poor condition and it is unacceptable for the government to turn a deaf ear towards the demands of the workers, who sacrificed a lot during the Covid-19 pandemic.
