The Ambulance Owner Welfare Association has called off its planned nationwide indefinite strike by ambulances and freezer vans after the government assured the organisation that its demands would be addressed within 30 days.
The decision was announced at an emergency press briefing held at the reception room of the MP Hostel in the capital at 12:45am on Wednesday, reports BSS.
The briefing was attended by lawmaker Advocate Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority Chairman Md Habibur Rahman, Health Services Division Secretary Md Kamruzzaman and representatives of the police.
Earlier, stakeholders held a meeting under the leadership of Shimul Biswas to discuss the association’s five-point demand.
The meeting ended with an agreement that the issues would be resolved within the next 30 days following consultations with the relevant authorities.
“The Ambulance Owner Welfare Association placed five demands before us. Following constructive discussions, we agreed that the issues would be resolved within the next 30 days after consultation with the relevant stakeholders,” Shimul Biswas told the briefing.
Ambulance Owner Welfare Association Chief Adviser Mohammad Golam Mostofa Fuad said the strike had been withdrawn after the government assured the organisation that its demands would be addressed within the stipulated timeframe.
“As the government has assured us that our demands will be considered within the next 30 days, we are withdrawing our scheduled strike,” he said.
Fuad urged ambulance owners and drivers across the country to continue providing emergency services without causing public suffering.
“I request all ambulance owners and drivers to continue serving people and refrain from enforcing the strike so that no public suffering is caused,” he added.
He also called on the government to give priority to the association’s demands.
The association had earlier announced an indefinite nationwide strike by ambulances and freezer vans from 6am on Wednesday to press home its five-point demand.
The demands include enforcing commercial registration rules for ambulances operating for hire, implementing a High Court directive ensuring toll-free movement for government ambulances, exempting freezer vans and ambulances carrying bodies from tolls, and ensuring round-the-clock fuel availability to maintain uninterrupted emergency ambulance services.
