• Can’t restrict docs’ flight, plan to propose incentives: DGHS

Over 700 doctors including some medical consultants have left Sri Lanka and migrated overseas last year, Director General of Health Services (DGHS) Dr. Asela Gunawardena told The Sunday Morning.

According to the Ministry of Health, at present, there are about 20,000 serving doctors and around 2,800 consultants in Sri Lanka.

The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) stated that by the end of August last year, around 125 consultants had migrated from Sri Lanka.

As learnt by The Sunday Morning, some of these doctors have left the country after they applied for official leave, while some have left by vacating their post without giving prior notice to the Health Ministry.

When contacted by The Sunday Morning, Dr. Gunawardena said the Government could not restrict medical officers from leaving the country. 

“The matter was discussed with the Public Administration Ministry but it cannot be restricted as it is discrimination against them if the Government restricts them from migrating,” he said. 

However, he stressed that the doctors, especially consultants, had a moral obligation to serve the country at this critical juncture, adding that there were many other consultants who were serving in the country.

“There is a Public Administration circular. Without naming a doctor to cover up the duties, they can’t leave. However, what happens is these doctors get together and sign for each other to cover up and finally the person who signs to cover up also vanishes without informing,” he explained.

Commenting on the recent closure of a specialised ward at the Anuradhapura Hospital, Dr. Gunawardena said: “The fault is with the dean and the vice chancellors who approved the leave. The same thing happened there – there were two consultants, they signed for each other, and both left the country. The person who was there had to go for a foreign training. We have sent a senior registrar to open up the facility.”

Gunawardena stressed that it was specifically mentioned in the circular that unless there was a clear replacement, the higher authority was not supposed to grant approval.

“What happens is that they leave without giving notice; they just vacate the post and go. Only those who use proper channels inform the authorities before leaving. It is a loss when they leave the country after so many years of training,” he said.

He further said that the Government was currently discussing the possibility of discouraging doctors from leaving the country.

Meanwhile, GMOA Spokesman Dr. Chamil Wijesinghe claimed that from 1 January to 31 August last year, around 477 doctors including 125 consultants had left the country, according to their statistics.

“Even today around 50 applications for foreign leave were received by the Ministry of Health,” he said, adding that at present the impact was mainly due to consultants leaving as opposed to junior medical officials.

“The Health Minister once said in Parliament that they would impose certain laws, that they would blacklist the doctors who were leaving, which they can’t do as it is a violation of their rights,” the GMOA Spokesman said.

He further said that there was a special circular issued by the Public Administration Ministry allowing State employees to obtain foreign leave for up to five years.

“They can work abroad, they can send a predefined amount of foreign exchange, and they can come back and join the service and they will not lose their seniority,” he said.

“We have 20,000 doctors and only 700 have left. More than 95% are still serving in the country. We have requested the implementation of certain programmes to encourage them to remain here. That doesn’t mean increasing salaries but ensuring the safety of the doctors and enhancing postgraduate programmes. In fact, the Government has done that and it is in the processing stage. 

“We requested the creation of a good working environment. The drug shortage is a huge problem. We don’t see them addressing these. Uncertainty over the future has resulted in them leaving. This is also aggravated by the recently-imposed unfair taxes. Earlier the trend was only present at higher levels, but now most of the technical employees such as lab technicians are also leaving the country,” Dr. Wijesinghe added.