GVK EMRI terminates services of 63 striking ambulance staff in HP

The GVK EMRI (Emergency Management and Research Institute), which runs the 108 and 102 ambulance services in Himachal Pradesh has terminated the services of 63 striking employees.

However, despite the strict move yesterday, the ambulance union continued with its strike demanding cancelation of the MoU inked between the state government and GVK EMRI for running the ambulance service and bringing the service under the purview of National Health Mission (NHM).

GVK EMRI employees have been on strike since last Monday.

Ambulance drivers and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) who provide pre-hospital care to patients are accusing the organisation of not paying them enough for the long hours they keep.

They have demanded that ambulance workers be covered under a government policy, as in Haryana, to ensure they work only for eight hours.

GVK EMRI state head Mehul Sukumar yesterday said, "We have terminated (services of) 63 ambulance employees. We still request the striking employees to return to work. If they do not do so, we will be left with no option but to take strict action against them too."
However the head of the ambulance employee union Pooran Chand said, "Several of the 198 ambulances were declared unfit to ply on roads, so the question of running 191 ambulances is nothing but a lie."