Professionals leaving Sri Lanka is one of the most pressing issues at the moment. However, professionals leaving crucial sectors is also likely to be an issue in the coming few months, with recently announced regulations that require certain professionals to retire upon reaching a certain age.
As per the Government’s decision, which came in a context where it is actively looking at reducing public sector expenditure, a mandatory retirement age has been introduced for medical consultants, Government medical officers, dental surgeons, and registered medical officers in the public health sector. Of the said professionals, those above the age of 60 years will retire in the coming few months, with those who have already completed the age of 63 years being the first batch to leave the service at the end of this month.
The health sector is about to face a mass exodus of top professionals in this manner, further affecting the sector, which has already been facing severe issues stemming from the economic downturn, which makes this situation all the more alarming.
There is no denying that there should be a retirement age for all professionals. When those who are no longer physically or mentally capable of properly performing their duties should retire, it also provides new opportunities for professionals. However, we have to question whether the authorities’ approach in this matter, which is based entirely on age and not on the physical or mental capability of medical professionals, is the best one, because a person reaching the age of 60 does not necessarily mean that they are no longer capable of working.
There are both monetary and non-monetary costs of these actions aimed at slashing public sector expenditure, which, one might argue, outweigh the monetary costs of keeping medical professionals in the health sector in the long run. In addition to the need to recover the value of public funds spent to provide free education to these professionals, making retirement mandatory also poses the question as to what happens to their expertise, which is the final product of free education, and their experience.
When it comes to the medical specialists’ case, essentially, it takes decades to create a specialist, and requiring them to leave the health sector at the age of 60 is a waste of their knowledge and experience. Irrespective of their physical capability in treating patients, medical specialists could still play a key role in the health sector through providing training to inexperienced professionals, as well as consultation and research, and having them retire at the age of 60 affects their potential to contribute in those ways. During the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was such experienced medical professionals that took the strategic decisions that impacted the entire country, and their expertise was instrumental in dealing with the pandemic.
Medical professionals should be allowed to retire; however, their expertise should not be left unused merely because they have reached a certain age. Even if retirement is necessary, many medical specialists who retire are still in a position to provide their services, and the authorities should therefore create a system that allows such professionals to share their expertise even after retirement. Against the current backdrop, where new medical specialists do not join the health sector at the same rate as retiring medical specialists, allowing experienced experts to serve as long as they can is a more prudent decision than mandating that they retire merely because they reach a certain age.