Govt drivers replace 108 staff

Even drivers employed on contract basis under the National Rural Health Mission’s Janani Suraksha Vahini Scheme shall be borrowed, thus enabling the movement of 398 out of the 517 ambulances in the State.

Confirming the State government’s move, BMTC Managing Director K Srinivasa said 50 drivers have been deployed to drive 108 ambulances.

Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda was irked that employees continued to strike work despite the State conceding two of their demands.

Speaking with the striking employees on Thursday, Gowda said they could continue with their strike, as they had sought the help of the Opposition and the media.

The employees, however, said they were unaware of the chief minister’s assurance to fulfill two of their demands. A nurse from Bellary began hunger strike.

Terming the strike ‘illegal’ as Arogya Kavacha was an emergency service, Health Secretary E V Ramana Reddy said: “The employees have taken mobile phones and keys of ambulances. How can they resort to such an act, when the ambulances belong to the State government.”

However, the employees denied Reddy’s charge saying they had submitted a memorandum to GVK-EMRI nearly a month ago. “If only our demands were taken seriously by the government and the EMRI, the strike could have been averted,” said an employee.

Another employee said the management of EMRI had threatened to terminate the employees en masse, if they refused to rejoin work by 6 pm on Thursday.

D V Badrinath, Chief Operations Officer, GVK EMRI, said the emergency services received 12,000 calls on Thursday. “With the help of the 398 functional ambulances, we were able to attend to 1,600 emergency calls on Thursday,” he said.

BMCRI facing shortage of drivers

The medical colleges in the City are plagued by shortage of ambulance drivers, said Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) Director and Dean Dr O S Siddappa said.

“Recently, we sent a proposal to the State government urging it to allow us to recruit drivers on our own. The proposal is awaiting clearance from the Department of Finance,” he said.

The hospitals that come under the purview of the BMCRI either outsource drivers or borrow them from the Health department. 

Nearly, 60 per cent of drivers have been outsourced on a contract basis for six months.
“We want to recruit drivers for basic cadre. Since we do not have C&R rules, we will adopt the one followed by the Department of Health initially,” added Siddappa.