News

The move to shift the Sri Lanka Army Medical Corps-Volunteer (SLAMC-V) unit to Minneriya has caused concern among its members.

They say they fear that such a move will result in the loss of many officers currently serving in it and also dry out new recruitment.

The unit has been asked to move out of the Army Headquarters which it has occupied for over a century, following the recent attack on the Army Commander within the Headquarters premises.

The men in the Corps say that as all officers are from the Health Department or from universities, they need to be located close to the Health Ministry, University Grants Commission, Post Graduate Institute of Medicine, the Sri Lanka Medical Council and volunteer force headquarters for their administrative needs.

They say that the Corps was able to carry out its tasks efficiently in the current conflict situation because of its central location in Colombo which helped the members to liaise with all the nerve centres in the health service.

The specialists who serve on the SLAMC render their services depending on requirements of the Army and it will be a burden on them to travel to Minneriya for administrative needs if the unit is shifted there.

There are 342 soldiers and about 15 officers in the unit but of these only about 100 soldiers and two officers serve in the East while the rest serve in other parts of the island. Hence they will be greatly inconvenienced if they have to travel to the new headquarters in Minneriya.

During the Elephant Pass debacle, as no regular surgeons were willing to serve at the Palaly Military Hospital, it was the volunteer surgeons who served during the entire period of that battle, the men on the force say.

They fear that such a move would lead to the loss of the supportive role that volunteers play, with minimum expense to the country.

The men also say that an international military conference on disaster management scheduled for July this year, organized by the officers of the SLAMC (V) will also become ineffective with the proposed move.

They have suggested that if a policy decision has been made to move all medical units out of Army HQ, an alternative place be provided in the general area of Borella, close to health care institutions.

Since its inception in 1881, the unit has served in almost all conflicts and undertaken pioneering work in the healthcare system in Sri Lanka.

The first free health service was also set up by the officers of the unit.

Major (Dr.) William Kynsey, after whom Kynsey Road is named and Major (Dr) Allan Perry who was instrumental in setting up the Eye Hospital are notable examples.