• Ministry requests not to inconvenience patients, Army deployed  
• Nurses’ unions sound warning of joining strike, ACNU to protest today 

Despite the Ministry of Health’s request to return to hospitals without causing inconvenience to patients, unions representing the paramedical health services and professions supplementary to medicine-related health services led by the Health Trade Union Alliance (HTUA) have decided to continue the strike for the second consecutive day today (14).

Speaking to the media yesterday (13), the Co-Convenor of the HTUA, Chanaka Dharmawickrama, said that the unions attached to the HUTA have decided to continue the strike as the Government has failed to address their demands.

However, the Ministry yesterday requested the unions that are currently on strike, to return hospitals, accepting the benefits that are supposed to be given by the Ministry of Finance, without causing further inconveniences to the patients. 

The HTUA-led 72 paramedical health services and professions supplementary to medicine-related health services TUs, excluding doctors and nurses, resumed their TU actions from yesterday onwards following the failure of the Government to reach a consensus with the said TUs regarding the latter’s allowance related demands. The said decision was taken following a meeting held between the health sector non-medical TUs and the Finance, Economic Stabilisation, and National Policies Ministry on Monday (12).

Against this backdrop, the Ministry convened a press conference yesterday regarding the issue, and Minister of Health Dr. Ramesh Pathirana urged the health trade unions to return to work irrespective of the disagreements, in order to avoid the inconveniences caused to the patients. “As far as I know, the Finance Ministry is doing its best to address the issues of the health workers. Several meetings were held between the two parties, but the trade unions didn’t agree with certain proposals submitted by the Finance Ministry. The Government decided to give an allowance increase to doctors and university academics, considering the impact of the recently increased taxes on their salaries. In parallel, all the public sector workers were given a Rs. 10,000 allowance. Therefore, we kindly request all the health workers to return to work and further negotiate on the matter,” Pathirana said.

Meanwhile, the nurses’ trade unions, led by the All Ceylon Nurses’ Union (ACNU) and the Public Services United Nurses” Union (PSUNU), warned the Government of prospective trade union actions if the Government fails to respond to their demands. Speaking to the media yesterday, the President of the PSUNU, Ven. Muruththettuwe Ananda Thera, said that they will join the trade union action soon if their demands remain unheard, but that they would however give some time to the Government to look into the issues before doing so. The General Secretary of the ACNU, S.B. Medawatte, said that they have not joined the ongoing strike thus far, but would stage a protest today in front of the Health Ministry, demanding the benefits for their community. 

Responding to the strike in a press conference held yesterday, the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) blamed the trade union leaders of the paramedical health services and the professions supplementary to medicine for misusing their labour rights to achieve personal political agendas instead of raising the authentic issues of the health workers. 

Meanwhile, the Army had deployed its troops to State hospitals across the country yesterday, in order to ensure uninterrupted access to essential healthcare services amidst an island-wide strike launched by health sector trade unions yesterday. The troops had been swiftly deployed to various healthcare facilities nationwide, under the directives of the Ministry of Defence and the guidance of the Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Vikum Liyanage, after a request was made by the Ministry of Health seeking assistance in managing the situation effectively. Currently, nearly 900 troops have been deployed under the full supervision of the respective Security Forces Commanders to maintain the daily operations of 48 Hospitals, including the Colombo and Kandy National Hospitals, the Kalubowila, Karapitiya, Mahamodara, Peradeniya, Anuradhapura, and Kurunegala Teaching Hospitals, as well as the Eye Hospital Colombo and Hospitals in Matale, Polonnaruwa, Medirigiriya, Hingurakgoda, Batticaloa, Dehiattakandiya, Hambantota, Debarawewa, Ratnapura, Balangoda, Eheliyagoda, Nawalapitiya, Badulla, Elpitiya, Homagama, and Kegalle, without interruption.

TUs representing a wide range of health sector professionals, including those in professions supplementary to medicine and paramedical services such as radiology and laboratory technicians, pharmacists and drug compounders, midwives, dental surgeons, public health inspectors, and entomology officers, but excluding doctors and nurses, have engaged in strikes on multiple occasions, demanding an allowance hike for them. On 8 January, the Cabinet of Ministers approved President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s proposal to double the disturbance, availability, and transport (DAT) allowance paid to Government doctors, raising it from Rs. 35,000 to Rs. 70,000. This compelled the other health workers to resort to TU actions.

Later, on 23 January, the Government decided to temporarily halt the payment of the DAT allowance for doctors, citing insufficient funds. The Director General of Health Services, Dr. Asela Gunawardena, stated that although the necessary arrangements were made for the payment of the said allowance, the Treasury had not provided funds within the approved allocation limit. The GMOA immediately announced an indefinite strike which was only called off after the Government reversed the said decision.

Health declared as essenitial service

The Government last evening issued a Gazette declaring all services, work or labour necessary for maintenance of hospitals, nursing homes, and dispensaries as essential services.