Two groups of public sector employees are escalating trade union action this week: doctors will protest outside the Colombo National Hospital on Tuesday, and Development Officers across the country will report sick leave on Monday.
The Government Medical Officers’ Association said it would stage a demonstration outside the National Hospital of Sri Lanka in Colombo on 10 November, demanding solutions to doctors’ salary and allowance issues and to the shortage of medical professionals, the Daily Mirror reported.
The association said it had repeatedly asked the Health Ministry and other authorities for discussions on long-standing concerns but had not received a satisfactory response.
The three demands
The GMOA said Tuesday’s demonstration will press for solutions to doctors’ salary and allowance issues, a revision of approved staff cadre numbers to address shortages, and an end to measures it says are aimed at suppressing legitimate trade union demands.
On pay, the association pointed to the cancellation of tax-concession vehicle import permits after the 2022 economic crisis and to increased taxation on doctors’ earnings and work-related allowances. It said one-third of doctors’ overtime and holiday allowances had been suspended under the 2025 public sector salary revision, payments the government had reportedly promised to restore once the economy improved.
On staffing, the GMOA said fewer than 25,000 doctors are currently in active service under the Health Ministry, and that no scientific, evidence-based revision of approved cadre numbers across the health sector has been carried out since 2015 despite a significant expansion of services, institutions and units. The failure to revise those numbers, it said, had increased workloads and threatened the quality of care.
The association said it submitted proposals to the government last August seeking solutions through the 2027 Budget, but had received no response despite repeated requests for talks.
Development Officers to report sick on Monday
Separately, Development Officers island-wide have decided to launch trade union action by reporting sick leave on 9 November over several unresolved demands.
Dhammika Munasinghe, General Secretary of the Joint Development Officers’ Association, told a media briefing in Colombo on Sunday that the demands had been brought to the authorities’ attention on several occasions without action, and confirmed the action would go ahead.
A second newsroom confirms both actions — but names a different union
Hiru News reported both actions late on Sunday, independently confirming the Monday action by Development Officers and the GMOA demonstration outside the National Hospital on Tuesday, and framing them as part of a wider complaint by several trade unions that the government has still not resolved a range of occupational grievances.
Its account of the GMOA’s case matches the Daily Mirror’s on all three counts — doctors’ salaries and allowances, the shortage of health staff, and the suppression of legitimate demands through what it calls repressive laws.
The two filings differ on the Development Officers, however, and the difference is not cosmetic:
| Daily Mirror | Hiru News | |
|---|---|---|
| Union | Joint Development Officers’ Association | All Ceylon Development Officers’ Association |
| Action on Monday | Reporting sick leave | A strike |
| Named officer | Dhammika Munasinghe, General Secretary | none |
A sick-note campaign and a declared strike are different instruments with different legal consequences for participants, and the two outlets attribute the decision to differently named organisations. Neither filing mentions the other body. This desk reports both accounts rather than choosing between them; the distinction should become clear once the action begins on Monday.
What is not stated
Neither filing says whether Tuesday’s demonstration will disrupt patient services or whether it involves a work stoppage, and neither identifies the measures the GMOA describes as suppressing union activity. Neither lists the Development Officers’ demands or estimates how many staff will take part, and neither names the other trade unions Hiru says are involved. No government or Health Ministry response is reported.
This follows the GMOA’s announcement of islandwide hospital protests on 3 November, which did not name dates or hospitals. The Daily Mirror says the association has since held protests near several major hospitals during the past week.
