The Joint Council for Professionals of Supplementary Medicine (JCPSM) has informed the Ministry of Health that it has decided to go on strike on 24 August in protest against the conditions obstructing the updating of the paramedic service.
Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (21), JCPSM President Ravi Kumudesh said that they have been seeking, very reasonably and patiently, for a long time, to get the authorities to make timely changes that must be made to the paramedic service. However, he said that due to the influence of certain other categories of professionals suffering from professional hypocrisy or interference by certain officials who work arbitrarily, there have been numerous obstacles to making such changes a reality.
He said that obstacles against revising the recruitment procedure of the paramedic service, the non-issuance of the circular related to their promotion system, the non-updating of the additional duty allowance rates, the telephone allowances, the specimen allowances and the travelling allowances, suppressing trade unions and their leaders via disciplinary procedures, assigning medical personnel who have no direct contribution to the related duties to information management systems created for the duties of paramedic service personnel, and the preparation of the Ministry to take decisions in a manner favourable solely to the medical service by persuading that there is a shortage of medical professionals due to migration, have considerably affected the paramedic service.
"We have informed the relevant authorities on many occasions regarding the unsatisfactory conditions that have arisen in relation to the paramedic service, which is a professional service that plays a very important role in the health care sector. However, as there is no apparent preparation to resolve our problems, we have decided to launch a strike on 24 August. We have informed in writing to the Ministry Secretary Janaka Sri Chandraguptha about this," added Kumudesh.
Chandraguptha was not available for comment.
The paramedic service in Sri Lanka is represented by several categories of health professionals including medical laboratory technologists, public health inspectors, pharmacists, radiographers, occupational therapists, ophthalmic technologists, health entomology officers, and prosthetists and orthotists.