The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) began a 48-hour island-wide strike at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday after the Health Ministry published the placement list for 436 post-internship medical officers, a move the union said broke a prior agreement to hold the list back until ongoing discussions concluded.
The Ministry released the list on Wednesday evening, announcing that the 436 doctors must report to their assigned government hospitals and health institutions between 9 and 11 April. The Ministry said the placements had been made “transparently and based on a scientific methodology” that accounted for how doctors applied and their merit-list rankings.
In a statement issued hours later, the GMOA said the Ministry had pressed ahead while Health Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa was out of the country, describing the decision as “unacceptable and unethical.” The union said it had been agreed, with the intervention of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, that the attachment list would be suspended until consultations concluded.
The GMOA said the Ministry’s move amounted to a breach of trust and a violation of the agreed process. It demanded the withdrawal of the published list by 8:00 a.m. Thursday, failing which the strike would proceed as planned.
The walkout revives industrial action only three days after the GMOA suspended a nine-day strike on 6 April pending talks with the Health Ministry. The association said responsibility for any inconvenience caused to the public would rest with the authorities if the dispute remained unresolved. The action coincides with the final working days before the Sinhala and Tamil New Year.
