Health and Mass Media Minister Nalinda Jayatissa on Thursday cancelled a meeting with the Government Medical Officers’ Association that had been scheduled for the same day, after the union launched a 48-hour islandwide token strike from 8 a.m. in protest at the publication of a post-internship doctor transfer list.
Speaking in Parliament, Jayatissa said he had agreed on Sunday to discuss other matters with the GMOA but that new appointments of doctors who had completed internship training were outside the union’s remit. He said the law makes clear that trade unions have no role in those placements, though unions are traditionally consulted on mid-career transfers.
The Minister described the strike as “unfair” and said 96% of newly qualified doctors had rejected the GMOA directive and reported to their assigned hospitals. He urged new recruits to continue reporting without fear, saying police protection and public support would be provided if necessary, and said the government was prepared to face any situation arising from the action.
The GMOA said the strike was triggered because the Health Ministry published the transfer list of 436 post-intern doctors reporting between April 9 and 11, despite an understanding that it would be withheld until discussions with the Minister on Thursday. In a statement, the union said the walkout was a response to repeated attempts to “politicise” the transfer process.
The token strike comes just three days after the GMOA suspended a nine-day islandwide strike on April 6 on the understanding that talks would be held on April 9. Thursday’s walkout is the union’s second major action in a week and places the Dissanayake administration’s first full-term test of hospital labour relations back in the headlines on the same day the IMF signed a staff-level agreement on the combined fifth and sixth reviews.
Outpatient clinics, ward services and elective procedures face fresh disruption through Friday morning as the 48-hour strike runs its course, with the Ministry instructing hospital directors to maintain emergency and intensive care cover.
Returning to the issue in Parliament in the evening, Jayatissa hardened the government’s position, telling the House that no further discussions with the GMOA would be extended as long as the strike continued. He said the matter of post-internship appointments was “now closed” and warned that he would not engage the union in talks while what he described as a politically motivated strike remained in force.
