Public Health Inspectors across Sri Lanka reported sick on Friday, launching the island-wide token strike their union announced earlier this week over a transfer at the Bandaranaike International Airport Health Office in Katunayake.
The action follows the union’s withdrawal from all dengue control duties from Thursday. General Secretary of the Public Health Inspectors’ (PHI) Union of Sri Lanka, Chamil Muthukuda, said the decision was taken by the union’s Executive Committee, which met on the night of Wednesday the 19th.
Ada Derana reported that the union has also written to the Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Mass Media on the dispute.
An officer named for the first time
Until Friday, none of the outlets covering the dispute had identified the transferred official. Daily Mirror reported that the action was launched over the transfer of Public Health Inspector B.H. Meegasdeniya, who the association says was moved after raising objections to alleged illegal activities at the airport health office.
The two outlets describe the transferred officer differently. Ada Derana continued to report the dispute as concerning the “most senior Medical Officer of Health” attached to the airport health office, the description it and Daily Mirror both used on Thursday. Daily Mirror’s Friday report identifies a Public Health Inspector by name. The discrepancy has run through the story since it broke, with Ada Derana’s first filing on Wednesday referring to a Public Health Inspector who had given evidence to the Health Ministry’s Investigation Unit.
The union’s account
In a statement quoted by Daily Mirror, the association said the airport health office had been carrying out various tests for many years, and that it had repeatedly brought incidents of corruption, irregularities and misuse of public funds to the attention of the authorities.
It said its most recent complaint was submitted under reference number PHIU/Sec/2026/42, in a letter dated July 12, 2026, and that no investigation had followed despite repeated notifications. The union said the island-wide action was a protest both against the transfer and against that inaction.
No response from the Health Ministry was reported by either outlet.
Timing
The strike coincides with the launch of the Health Ministry’s community dengue pilot project in Colombo District, scheduled for Friday morning at the Boralesgamuwa MOH office. PHIs carry out most routine larval surveys, premises inspections and source reduction work in the national dengue programme.
It also lands on the day the National Dengue Control Unit said daily case numbers had fallen sharply.
