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Doctors facing issues in reporting to work

20 Apr 2022

  • Medical specialists seek audience with Health Secy. over fuel shortage
  • Reject any solutions based on tokens or special permits
BY Buddhika Samaraweera Noting that medical specialists are facing difficulties in reporting to work due to the shortage of fuel in the country, the Association of Medical Specialists (AMS) has requested the Health Ministry Secretary Dr. Sanjeewa Munasinghe to grant them an early appointment in order to discuss the said issue. In a letter dated 16 April, addressed to Dr. Munasinghe, the AMS has stated that medical specialists, particularly members of the AMS, are currently facing difficulties in reporting to work due to the shortage of fuel, adding that the issue is likely to deteriorate daily as certain cities have not had fuel for many days. The AMS also stated that it is not possible for medical specialists to go to fuel stations with tokens or special permits as there are many others in queues who are naturally angered by such, which may in turn lead to public unrest, thus creating further chaos. “Along with the multitude of other essential services, we feel that health care service providers should also be considered as high priority with regard to access to fuel during this crisis. Therefore, we strongly feel that the responsibility of devising a practical, plausible mechanism to facilitate our members to get a quota of fuel lies with the Ministry,” the letter read. Until such a mechanism is established, the AMS stated that they are compelled to inform their members to inform the respective Hospital Directors about their inability to attend to needy patients physically and instead having to resort to providing telephone or online advice and consultation when required, purely due to the lack of fuel to report to work. “Even though the inability to attend to needy patients is highly unacceptable in any clinical setup, we do not see any other practical alternative to this problem in the near future. Further, it is important to note that most of the hospitals have not been able to provide onsite, official accommodation to all specialist medical officers and hence they are compelled to reside away from the hospital,” it added. Therefore, considering the need for finding an urgent solution for this matter, the AMS has requested Dr. Munasinghe to grant them an early appointment to discuss this issue, claiming that it is not an attempt to misuse their position but an effort to mitigate a crisis in order to save the lives of patients as well as the good name of the national healthcare delivery system. The country has been hit by a fuel crisis for the past few months with the economy being hit hard due to the serious deficit of US dollar reserves needed for imports. Over the last few months, many arrivals of stocks of fuel have been delayed due to the said dollar shortage. As a result, the country is facing a shortage of fuel these days and people are seen waiting in long queues near fuel stations.


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