The damage done by the Provincial Council system to the health service of the country was proven recently after the Secretary of the Western Provincial Council refused to pay salaries for the past nine months to Government doctors who worked to control the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) Secretary Dr. Senal Fernando said yesterday. He told the media in Colombo that the Governor and the Secretary of the Western Provincial Council refused to pay the salaries due to doctors saying that at present there is an excess of doctors in the Western Province and, therefore, salaries cannot be paid for the additional number of doctors. According to Dr. Fernando, those doctors who had been named as `excess’ by the Western Provincial Council were appointed to their current positions by the Public Service Commission (PSC) on the recommendations of the Health Ministry. They assisted to expand the health service in the Western Province and played a significant role to control the Covid-19 pandemic, he added. Dr. Fernando said that trade union action will be taken within the next two or three weeks if the Western Province Governor and the Secretary fail to pay the salaries due to the doctors.
The Government should make the Health Services, a ‘Closed Services’ under the proposed new Constitution. Even the Federal states in the world keep their health services with the Central Government, he added.