‘108’ and ‘104’ ambulance strike in Jaipur, patients suffer

Jaipur: As the ‘108’ and ‘104’ ambulance employees went on a strike in Jaipur on Thursday, the patients and their wards are suffering. People were seen bringing accident victims on scooters, bikes and in cars. The ambulances didn’t take patients to most government hospitals in the city including SMS Hospital, Jaipuria, Satellite Hospital and Kanwatia Hospital.

The ambulances ferry over 250 patients – most of them accident victims – government hospitals on a daily basis. The ambulance employees also provide first-aid to the road accident victims. Due to the strike, the accident victims didn’t get any treatment on Thursday and were brought to hospitals by their family members in private vehicles. The family members said that they kept calling the ambulances but they didn’t arrive.

The agitating employees parked the ambulances outside the state assembly building on Janpath. They refused to budge before their demands were met.

The agitation began when the government recently issued tenders for the ambulances. In the tender advertisements, the salary and other perks for ambulance employees were not mentioned. They demanded that the salary and other perks should be specified for the attendant and the driver of the ambulances.

“We are not even sure that we would be able to keep our jobs,” said an ambulance employee.