The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) – Ratnapura Teaching Hospital Branch has decided to continue its strike, which was launched at the hospital last morning.
A 24-hour strike was launched within the Ratnapura Teaching Hospital from 08.00 am yesterday to protest what GMOA members called the oppressive and arbitrary actions of the Director of the hospital.
Due to the failure of the Ministry of Health authorities to provide any credible solution to resolve this crisis this morning, the GMOA – Ratnapura Teaching Hospital Branch decided to extend the continuous work stoppage, continuing into the third day.
Issuing a statement, the GMOA said that during this work stoppage period, emergency and lifesaving treatment services will be maintained as usual, but routine treatment services will be hampered.
“The full responsibility for this strike must be borne by the Health Ministry authorities who failed to implement the agreed points, despite sufficient time being given to the Hospital Director and others to resolve the issue.
“If the Minister of Health, the Director General of Health Services, and other responsible parties continue to fail in fulfilling their responsibility to resolve this issue, prioritizing the lives of the hospital staff, including doctors and the patients, these trade union actions will have to be further intensified in the future, for which the Ministry of Health must bear the complete responsibility,” the GMOA warned.
The GMOA says that due to the oppressive and arbitrary actions of the Director of the Ratnapura Teaching Hospital, the entire staff, including specialist doctors and medical officers, are under severe pressure, which affects the hospital’s patient care services.
The GMOA states that although the Ministry of Health had agreed to take necessary steps to conduct a fair investigation into the actions of the relevant Director, resolve the problems faced by the hospital staff, and ensure a safe professional environment within the hospital, leading to the suspension of trade union action planned earlier, the health authorities have since failed to implement these agreements.
The GMOA pointed out that although the Ministry of Health’s investigation has commenced, conducting the investigation while the relevant senior Director remains in his position and within the hospital premises is an unacceptable situation, as this has seriously compromised the impartiality and transparency of the relevant investigation and has also led to impacts on the witnesses supporting the allegations against the Director.
There have also been frequent reports of risks regarding the alteration of documents relevant to the investigation and their being misplaced. Furthermore, it has been observed that the relevant Hospital Director is acting in a manner that bypasses the Ministry of Health’s investigation, it said.
The GMOA says although several discussions were held with the responsible authorities, including the Ministry of Health, reviewing these trends, demanding a fair and transparent investigation into the Hospital Director’s actions, and calling for his temporary removal from the post of Hospital Director and for ensuring security within the hospital premises, the Ministry of Health has failed to provide solutions to this problem. (Newswire)
