NE doctors to strike against discrimination

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 August 2002, 17:40 GMT]
Resident medical officers working in the northeast province have decided to strike from Tuesday, demanding that they should also be paid one year special mission allowance now being paid for the non-resident medical officers serving in northeast hospitals.

A representative of the Government Medical Officers Union (GMOA) said Monday about three hundred resident medical officers, majority of them are Tamils will strike from Tuesday. They work in hospitals at Jaffna, Trincomalee, Vavuniya, Batticaloa, Kalmunai, Muttur, Kinniya and Kantalai in the northeast.

GMOA spokesman said that it is a clear discrimination shown to resident doctors serving in the northeast hospitals for several years and to pay non-resident doctors who come from other provinces to work for one year only.

The Line Ministry of Health pay one hundred percent of their monthly salary to all non resident medical officers from other provinces serving in hospitals in the northeast province on one year contract as special mission allowance for their risks involved in discharging their duties. However the resident doctors serving in the NE province are not paid such allowance. GMOA sources said.

Last year the then Minister of Health assured the trade union that the resident doctors of the northeast would also be paid such allowance. But upto now the assurance has not been kept. When the present Minister of Health Mr.P.Dayaratne visited Trincomalee two months back he was reminded about the assurance given by the earlier administration.

Health Minister Mr.Dayaratne is scheduled to visit Trincomalee Tuesday to participate as the chief guest at the final day Yuga Thekma industrial exhibition. The GMOA branches in the northeast have organised the strike coinciding with the Minister's Trincomalee visit, sources said.