The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) yesterday warned against politicising the Covid-19 pandemic in the country. Sri Lanka has requested a second dose of the vaccine to cover all health staff and others who are directly involved in controlling the Covid-19, the GMOA Assistant Secretary Dr. Navin De Zoysa said.
He told the media in Colombo yesterday that the GMOA has already helped the Government in connection with strategies to be employed in managing the current situation.
It is the duty of all Government Ministries to put those decisions into practice. For example, when a recommendation was made by the Government to transport passengers according to the number of seats available, all state and private offices should offer flexible working hours for their staff to adapt to this request.
According to Dr. De Zoysa, no matter which variant of the Covid-19 comes to Sri Lanka and how powerful it is, it is the same old set of health guidelines which protects everyone from the pandemic.
Therefore, it is essential for everyone to follow all given health guidelines all the time. No event should be permitted to be organised without following instructions from health officials.
Dr. De Zoysa said that if undetected Covid-19 asymptomatic patients could travel around the country during the holidays, and the situation could become very serious and similar to India because contact tracing will be impossible.
Dr. De Zoysa said that nothing could be done without changing the attitude of people in controlling Covid-19.
Since it is a global issue and neighbouring India is connected to Sri Lanka through various ways such as illegal migrants, illegal activities using the sea, the country is in danger.
At present, all three stakeholders, the Government, health service and the people should act united, he added.