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Govt, GMOA dig in, refuse to yield; doctors’ union withdraws from Arogya
View(s):By Sajeniya Sathanandan
The government has challenged the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) to intensify its trade union action, claiming that the union’s orders are not followed at the ground level.
GMOA Secretary Dr Prabath Sugathadasa said that GMOA members, including more than 23,000 doctors and specialists, will not participate in the Arogya project from tomorrow.
The union sees Arogya as a political project and says the government is misusing public taxes and human resources. It claims that the government has no clear goals, funding or structural plan for this project.
The GMOA says it has expressed its concerns, pointing out that the public will have to pay for the billions of rupees obtained for the project.
Deputy Health Minister Hansaka Wijemuni told the Sunday Times the government’s main focus is the implementation of its 10-year health policy and an emergency action plan. “The officials are working with specialists and doctors to implement this plan and do not have time to sit and discuss matters or respond to every claim made by trade unions.”
He also claimed that the trade union action does not have an impact on hospital operations. “During my visits to hospitals in Nuwara Eliya, Kegalle, Kurunegala, and Matara, such union actions were not visible,” he said.
The Arogya initiative is a government project to develop the primary healthcare system, which is funded by Parliament and the Treasury.
“The union is opposing the project to disrupt the health system,” the deputy minister said, adding that it did not raise any objection when it was implemented for the first time.
Commenting on another area of dispute—the signing of the official oath document before beginning an internship—the deputy minister said it is mandatory, and it makes the practitioner legally responsible to the Medical Council. “There’s no rule or policy requiring a formal ceremony. Doctors are free to hold a ceremony if they wish; it is not the government’s responsibility to organise one.”
The GMOA secretary said the oath ceremony conducted by the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) has been stopped without an explanation, which is unfortunate. It is an important celebration in a doctor’s career, he said.
The minister conceded that the doctors have to work amidst a staff shortage in the health sector but said the government has recruited several students into nursing schools and has hired graduates from universities. He blamed the union for part of the problem, saying recruitments of health science graduates have been paused due to court cases filed by the GMOA.
Dr Sugathadasa, however, said there is a significant delay in granting appointments to about 2,000 new doctors—400 from a repeat batch and 1,600 from the proper batch.
The repeat batch has been waiting for more than eight months for recruitment, while the proper batch completed internship four months ago.
These doctors are currently working at the sites of their internships without proper contracts or appointments. This creates an unstable situation where they cannot plan their futures, academic posts, or career paths because they do not know where they will eventually be stationed, he said.
While these doctors wait, peripheral hospitals are struggling with a severe lack of medical officers, leading to some stations being unable to function, the GMOA secretary said.
The main reason for the appointment delay is connected to the failure to update the medical cadre, the union said. Currently, the health system is operating under a cadre approved in 2015, which has not been revised in over 10 years. “Because the 2015 cadre is already full, the government lacks the authority to grant new appointments and pay salaries,” Dr Sugathadasa said.
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