Health workers await return of President to resolve issue over allowance demand
Set February 1 as fresh deadline, threaten full scale trade union action if all fails
Health workers excluding doctors, in state-run hospitals, are awaiting a resolution to their demand for an additional allowance similar to that of doctors and have warned that a failure to resolve the issue could result in trade union action disrupting services.
They have set February 1 as the fresh deadline for the government to meet their demands. In addition, they say protest campaigns will be held from Tuesday onwards.
Token strikes that were held across the island over the past two weeks concluded this week, and the unions say they are awaiting the return of President Ranil Wickremesinghe from overseas to find a solution to the issue. Joint Council for Professions of Supplementary Medicine president Ravi Kumudesh told the Sunday Times that they had requested an allowance of Rs. 35,000, similar to that granted to doctors as a Disruption, Availability, and Transport (DAT) allowance.
He said that due to the country's economic situation, all health sector workers should receive a wage raise.
At least 72 trade unions representing professions such as nurses, public health inspectors, radiologists, pharmacists, lab technicians, and dental therapists in schools took part in token strikes disrupting medical services.
Health workers at children's hospitals, maternity hospitals, cancer hospitals, blood banks, and mental health facilities held protests during their lunch breaks to avoid disrupting routine hospital services.
Public Health Inspectors (PHI) Union secretary Shanaka Bopitiyage said, "Not only doctors should be given this increase in allowance, but our officers must also be given an incentive."
He said they withdrew their token strike after the Health Ministry said it was unable to make a decision because the President was out of the country.
Government Medical
Officers Association (GMOA) spokesman Dr. Chamil Wijesinghe said in a statement that "only doctors are eligible for the DAT allowance because they must report to their duties at any time during an emergency situation."
He noted that other professionals in the country who are similar to doctors are provided with a vehicle, fuel, and a personal driver. Doctors, on the other hand, had to seek a separate allowance to cover these costs. According to the price formulas, this allowance each month should be approximately 3 lakhs; however, given the current situation of the country, doctors are satisfied with their Rs. 35,000 rise, he added.
Government Medical Officers Forum, Dr. Rukshan Bellana, told the Sunday Times, "Paramedic trade unions affiliated with specific political parties were engaged in this strike, and during the strike hours, the government took steps to deploy tri-forces to assist with hospital services; operations ran smoothly, though there were a few cases where patients had difficulty getting medicines."
He also said the government should take a serious look at the paramedic profession, citing poor performance on the part of some. Dr. Bellana stated that "this is a good eyeopener for the government to outsource paramedic services to the private sector."
Commenting on the DAT allowance to doctors, he noted that the request for an increase was made nine years ago, and they eventually received Rs. 35,000. "This is an unfair request from the paramedics," he said, adding that they worked shifts and were not on call like the doctors.
All government employees, including paramedics, were already entitled to a raise in salary of Rs. 10,000 beginning this month as part of the government budget, and the request for another hike is absolutely ridiculous, he said.