• 453 medical practitioners earmarked, 1,000 more to be recruited in the coming months  

The Health Ministry said that it would not allow the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) to sidetrack the intention of giving post-internship appointments to 453 medical practitioners. 

Responding to queries when contacted, the Deputy Health Minister, Dr. Hansaka Wijemuni told The Daily Morning yesterday (31) that last year (2025) too, the GMOA had led a strike when the Ministry had been on the verge of giving annual transfers to medical practitioners and appointments to Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery qualified doctors who had completed their post-internship training. “At the time, the Union had struck work when at least 1,000 doctors had applied for vacant posts in State health institutions around the country”. He said the Ministry had been compelled to halt the process and amend the list even then. “It had given in at the time as it had not wished to cause inconvenience to the public. We previously made some adjustments to the list after giving some consideration to the GMOA, and republished it. However, this time, we don’t intend to do that, as there has to be a limit to this interference,” he noted. Although accusations have been made that the lists are politicised, the lists have been made according to regulations with the concurrence of the Public Service Commission, he added. 

Explaining, he said there are District Health Service Directors, Provincial Health Service Directors, and hospital administrators while the Ministry has a separate unit related to the subject headed by a director. “Therefore, there is no reason to ask for advice from trade unions (TUs) when giving new appointments. TUs can play the role of observers in transfer boards,” he pointed out. 

Dr. Wijemuni said that his Ministry is planning on recruiting another 1,000 medical practitioners to fill in vacancies in a few months. “Therefore, we cannot keep stopping and restarting the list to accommodate these unfair demands,” he stressed. 

Explaining, he said that the post-internship appointments are called to recruit doctors to the preliminary grade. “So this time, the job will be given to those who submit applications. However, applying is not compulsory - anyone who wishes can choose not to apply. There is no rule that post-interns must send in applications since the internship training has been completed,” he explained. 

He noted the Ministry had also received a number of requests for recruitment from medical practitioners who are outside the State health service. “However, since we have only a limited number of vacancies, we are only recruiting medical officers who have completed their internship,” he said. 

He said that if the Health Department did not receive the required number of applications from amongst the post-interns, they would not hesitate to recruit from outside. Fielding questions, he said that those who had resigned from the Ministry to go overseas but had returned to the country and had made a request to rejoin the State health service would be considered if the Ministry did not receive the adequate number of applications from amongst the post-interns. There are about 150 to 200 doctors who had left the State health service and have expressed a wish to rejoin who would be considered under the circumstances, he said. 

Meanwhile, addressing the weekly Cabinet of Ministers media briefing yesterday, Cabinet Spokesperson and Health Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa accused the GMOA of heavily influencing the annual transfer lists. The North and East list which had been functional during the conflict period in Sri Lanka was replaced in 2020 by the Difficult Station list. He said that the Ministry had prepared a list of 268 vacancies in concurrence with the Regional and Provincial Directors. He said that the Union should intervene only if one of its members is facing a difficulty as a result of a transfer. Instead, it had opted to resort to TU action at a time when the country and the people are facing severe difficulties stemming from the conflict in the Middle East.  

Currently, the GMOA is on the war path with regard to the alleged discrepancies and politicisation of doctors transfers. 

The GMOA launched the nationwide token strike yesterday, based on several demands, including the alleged illegal transfers of doctors. The strike commenced at 8 a.m. across all hospitals island-wide, according to the Secretary of the GMOA, Dr. Prabath Sugathadasa. However, he noted that the TU action will not be carried out in maternity hospitals, children’s hospitals, the National Cancer Institute/Apeksha Hospital, Maharagama, specialised kidney units, tri-forces hospitals, and the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Sugathadasa further warned that if the Government fails to respond to their concerns, stricter TU actions will be taken in the future.

Dr. Wijemuni recently stated regarding potential strike action by doctors: “I don’t think that doctors can resort to strike action. Historically, such actions have not taken place on a large scale. I don’t think that this TU has the capacity to carry out such measures. Although various statements were made recently, nothing significant happened. However, if doctors have issues, we are ready to listen.”