The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) will begin a 48-hour nationwide token strike from 8:00 a.m. on Thursday (9 April), reviving trade union action just three days after its nine-day strike was suspended pending talks with the Health Ministry.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the union said the fresh action was being launched in protest against the Health Ministry granting Post-Graduate Internships in what it described as a violation of conditions previously agreed upon with the government.
The GMOA said it had already initiated a series of trade union actions in response to what it called attempts to politicise the doctor transfer process. A meeting between the association and Health Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa had been scheduled for Thursday with the intervention of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the statement added.
The union said the understanding reached before suspending the earlier strike was that the transfer list of post-intern doctors would be held back until the scheduled discussion concluded. The GMOA said the ministry’s decision to press ahead with the intern placements broke that understanding.
The move marks a sharp reversal from the April 6 announcement suspending the earlier nine-day action and raises the prospect of fresh disruption to public hospital services on the eve of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year period.
The health sector is already stretched from the earlier strike’s outpatient and surgery backlogs, and Thursday’s walkout coincides with the final working day before Avurudu travel begins.
