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Government doctors urge 65 as retirement age

02 Jul 2021

  • Age raised to 63 earlier this week

By Buddhika Samaraweera   The Government Medical Officers’ Forum (GMOF) has planned to request the Health Ministry and other relevant authorities to raise the retirement age of doctors to 65 years, claiming that the Government’s recent decision to raise it to 63 years was not sufficient. When contacted by The Morning to inquire about this, GMOF President Dr. Rukshan Bellana said that the retirement age for doctors in countries such as the UK has been raised to 70 years. “In that context, we are of the view that the retirement age for doctors in Sri Lanka should be raised to 65 years. We hope to make a request in that regard in the future,” he added. The Public Services, Provincial Councils, and Local Government Ministry issued an extraordinary gazette notification on 30 June, extending the retirement age of doctors of all grades from 61 years to 63 years. The relevant proposal submitted by the Health Ministry was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on 20 April 2021. The gazette notification stated that the amendment to the Minutes on Pensions would be effective from the date of the said Cabinet decision. Commenting on this, Dr. Bellana said that the GMOF was the first to request an increase in the retirement age for doctors. “We first made this request during the tenure of Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne. Later, when the present Government came to power, the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) also made requests for that. However, this is a progressive decision, but our view is that it should be increased to 65 years,” he further explained. Attempts to contact the GMOA to obtain their views of the said decision, were unsuccessful.  


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