The Government Medical Officers’ Association(GMOA), has turned into a politicised-trade union-mafia that is advocating a project to bring Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa back into power, UNP Parliamentarian Mujibur Rahman said yesterday.
Holding GMOA President Anurudhdha Padeniya and his henchmen responsible for attempting to obstruct the development process of the country, MP Rahman urged the medical professionals to protect the people's respect they had earned for their profession.
“All of you must have seen who Padeniya sits with during a particular programme. That is with non other than Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. It is very clear as to what type of political agenda Padeniya and GMOA have.”
MP Rahman also said that the GMOA is promoting fascism and dictatorship, while trying to establish a monopoly within their profession. “They are trying to bring down the government by blackmailing the general public. The general public should not permit themselves to be suppressed by such a mafia organization as the GMOA.
UNP MP Rahman made these observations at a press brief held at the Sirikotha, UNP headquarters yesterday morning. He condemned the GMOA for moving into trade union action against the Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement. Trade Union action is to be launched from August 3, 2018.
MP Rahman also spoke about the luxuries partaken by GMOA members. “Their initial salary exceeds Rs. 167,000. For a specialist it is around Rs. 250,000. When they are providing on call services, they are paid Rs. 50,000.
They get a vehicle permit with a value of Rs. 3,600,000. These people have used free education to come up to this level. But they are blackmailing the general public for political agendas,” he said.
MP Rahman also pointed out that numerous countries in the world have signed free trade agreements with Singapore, as it is the economic hub of Asia. “Sri Lanka needs this FTA. Singapore won’t lose anything by not being able to sign an agreement with us, but we will. Look at the way in which the GMOA acted when we started the Suwaseriya Ambulance Project. They spread all sorts of rumours. Now, what do they have to say about it? They are not even mentioning the significant steps taken by the government to strengthen the health sector of this country. They are not talking about the prevailing issues with regards to the health sector, but are worried about the FTA. They don’t have a solid argument against the FTA either,” MP Rahman further pointed out.
Similar to the GMOA, the Joint Opposition is also trying to create bogeymen to destabilize the development projects initiated by the government, MP Rahman said.
“The same boogeymen stood against when Sri Lanka signed the Indo-Lanka agreement. During those days they said that Sri Lanka would become a colony of India. After so many years had passed it happened? No. All these are boogeymen they are creating. We should not allow these boogeymen to destroy our economic potentials,” he added.
Meanwhile, asked if there was a rumour that UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa is to give up his post and position saying that he was unable to work with the rest anymore, MP Rahman denied the allegation.