NO SALARIES FOR DOCS, NURSES WHO IGNORE TRANSFER ORDERS

Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne has directed Health Secretary B.G.S. Gunatilaka to withhold the payment of salaries to doctors and nurses who fail to report to their new point of duty after their transfers, a health ministry spokesman said.

“The minister has also directed her to take disciplinary action against the hospital directors who had not released the transferred doctors and nurses, suspend annual funds to such hospitals and take account of the failure of the director to release the relevant medical staff, who were transferred when his or her performance is reviewed for promotions,” he said.

The decision to strictly adhere to the annual transfer orders was taken following complaints from Provincial Health Ministers at their annual meeting with the minister at the National Blood Transfusion Centre in Narahenpita over the week end. “Provincial Health Ministers lamented that district, base and rural hospitals under their purview were facing a severe shortage of doctors and nurses because most of the doctors and nurses, for various reasons, are reluctant to report to those hospitals which has resulted in a breakdown in healthcare services in rural areas,” he said.

“Doctors are not prepared to leave hospitals in urban areas as they engage in private practice, send their children to so-called prestigious or popular schools and want to enjoy the comfort of city life for ever. Many of them have the least concern to the people who funded their medical education.the nurses are no different,” the spokesman stressed.