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Medical specialists warn of dire consequences of retirement age reduction

22 Sep 2022

BY Buddhika Samaraweera   The Association of Medical Specialists (AMS) has stated that the en bloc retirement of approximately 300 medical specialists in a single day – on 31 December 2022 – as per the Government’s decision to reduce the mandatory retirement age of public servants to 60 years will have a huge impact on maintaining healthcare services in the country. In a special statement issued in this regard, the AMS stated that as per the Government’s decision to reduce the retirement age to 60 years, nearly 300 medical specialists will have to retire on 31 December 2022, and that this is the first time that such a large number of medical specialists will retire in a single day from the State health service. According to the AMS, with the implementation of the Government’s decision, a total of 43 consultants attached to the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL) in Colombo, 30 attached to the NHSL in Kandy, 17 attached to the Teaching Hospital in Karapitiya, 15 attached to the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children, and nine attached to the National Cancer Institute or Apeksha Hospital in Maharagama will retire by 31 December 2022.  However, the AMS claimed that medical specialists who are working in universities and at the Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital have been exempted from this new rule on the retirement age due to unknown reasons. “The replacement of these vacancies will require the movement and transfer of the remaining consultants from the provincial and base hospitals. It will not be possible to transfer them to vacant posts without the replacement of consultants. Replaced consultants are generally new consultants who come after foreign training. With the current situation in the country, a considerable number of consultants are not returning,” the statement read. Noting that there were only 33 transfusion specialists in the country, out of which eight will retire this year following the Government’s decision, with two having already retired, five having migrated, and four in the process of migrating, the AMS stated that the number of transfusion specialists will eventually become only 14. Claiming that the waiting list for bone marrow transplantation at the Apeksha Hospital was extending to 2025, the association added that one can only imagine the effect of further prolonging the waiting time due to the lack of transfusion specialists. “Histopathologists are needed to report on biopsies. Although the country needs at least 80 of them, we only had 60. While five of them are already on overseas leave, 10 others are in the process of migrating for overseas jobs, and five will retire with the new rule. Having less than half to do the job, the waiting time for biopsy reports will go up, thus impacting the outcomes of patients with conditions like cancer,” the statement issued by the AMS further read. The AMS also stated that a large number of newly passed out doctors are preparing for foreign licencing examinations instead of sitting for local postgraduate entry exams, and that a significant number of these young doctors are very likely to move out of Sri Lanka. It added that another significant number of Sri Lankan postgraduate medical trainees on overseas training are less likely to return due the current situation in the country. “The training of postgraduates who become future consultants is mainly conducted in the teaching hospitals by experienced consultants, and with the retirement of senior experienced consultants suddenly and in large numbers, training programmes and postgraduate examinations will be in severe jeopardy. The sudden retirement of senior consultants will create a vacuum of people with knowledge and experience in running postgraduate programmes and examinations.  “The number of qualified examiners and trainers will suddenly be reduced. The major hospitals will have new consultants who may not be eligible to train the trainees due to the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine requirements and this will in turn adversely affect the quality of the training programmes and examinations.” The AMS said that it would like to highlight the issues which may arise with the Government’s decision to all the relevant authorities at this critical juncture as the country and the people have experienced enough wrong decisions in the past. It added that no right-thinking Government will allow the retirement of such a large number of medical specialists in one single day from the State health service, especially during a time when many technocrats are considering moving overseas. “The loss of consultants and the resultant health crisis will imperil the people’s lives. The cost of damage control measures will far exceed the saving of money by saving the salaries of those who retire,” the statement read. When contacted by The Morning, Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils, and Local Government Secretary M.M.P.K. Mayadunne said that since the decision regarding the retirement age of public servants has been taken through the interim Budget proposal, if there is any problem in it, it should be changed according to a policy decision taken by the Government. He said that the Ministry has only issued the relevant circulars related to the decision taken by the Government with regard to the retirement age. In the Budget proposal for 2022, which was presented in 2021 by then-Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, the retirement age of all Government servants was extended to 65 years. However, in the interim Budget proposals presented this year, the retirement age of Government servants was brought down to 60 years, due to which those who have completed 60 years or more are required to retire by 31 December 2022. Subsequently, the Ministry issued a statement that the retirement age of those over 60 years of age in certain special categories of Government employment will remain unchanged as defined in the relevant circulars, which meant that the consultants’ retirement age will be 63 years going by a circular issued in 2018. However, the Ministry again issued another circular on 14 September 2022, specifying that the retirement age of all public servants will be 60 years, irrespective of the specifications defined in the previous circulars (except for judicial officers).  


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