Sri Lanka Minister of Health Pavithra Wanniarachchi and Army Commander Major General Shavendra Silva have not still responded to the Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA) trade union action in Sampathnuwara hospital in Welioya in Mullaithivu district. A spokesman of the GMOA told that the trade union action continued.
The two medical officers, the doctor in charge of the rental unit and the dental surgeon do not report to work in this rural hospital for about a week now. The people in this remote area are suffering immensely as a result of the trade union action of the GMOA.
On October 28, Sri Lanka Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA) complained to the Minister of Health Pavithra Wanniarachchi and Army Commander Shavendra Silva regarding the death threat against the head of Sampathnuwara District Hospital by a senior Army officer.
According to the letter dated 28 October 2020, sent to the Minister of Health, Brigadier K.K.S. Parakum of Mechanized Infantry Regiment had visited Sampathnuwara District Hospital to discuss converting the hospital into a COVID-19 treatment centre and abused the Head of the Institution and other medical officers using racist and derogatory words. The words include anti-Tamil racist language that called the doctors terrorists. As a trade union action, GMOA has withdrawn the doctors from the service in Sampathnuwara District Hospital.
