• Claims the MOH has promised to address the issue and the process is ongoing

The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) stated that it expects the Ministry of Health to provide solutions to the problems surrounding medical officer transfers and appointment lists as promised.

Speaking to The Daily Morning, GMOA Spokesperson Dr. Chamil Wijesinghe said: “There is a process that is going on now. We hope the Health Ministry will address the issues as promised. We expect that the ministry officials will not change their stance in the middle of this.”

The GMOA had earlier warned that it would launch an islandwide strike on 11 August unless the Health Ministry resolved what it described as unlawful transfers and errors in the appointment lists. The issues, according to the union, affect about 23,000 doctors, including 10,000 who have already been granted transfers but are unable to move, as well as 1,004 post-intern doctors whose placements have been mishandled.

The union also claimed that some vacancies listed in hospitals were for units that do not exist, and that reductions in the ‘Difficult station transfer list’ had put nearly 200 hospitals at risk of closure. It called for urgent corrective action on the ‘Post-intern vacancy list’, the ‘Difficult station list’, and the ‘Annual transfer list’ for this year.

At a meeting with the GMOA’s executive committee on 8 August, Health Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa had promised to act on the requests made. Following further discussions, the GMOA suspended its strike action scheduled for 11 August, saying the minister’s responses had been constructive and that solutions were expected to follow.