Thousands of patients seeking treatment at government hospitals were stranded due to the trade union action launched by the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA).
Hospital sources said that as a result of this strike, hundreds of scheduled surgeries and clinical activities were disrupted around the country.
GOMA Secretary Dr. Haritha Aluthge said yesterday (8) that the strike was carried out against the government’s new tax policy and the government’s lack of proper response to the shortage of medicines in the country.
He said that about 40,000 doctors in both the public and private sectors went on a 24-hour symbolic strike from 8 am yesterday (8) to 8 am today (9). He said that doctors only participated in the life-saving emergency treatment of patients and that doctors withdrew from planned treatment yesterday. He also stated that the government should take responsibility if any group of patients were inconvenienced due to the strike.
He said further that the strike was not implemented in children’s hospitals, maternity hospitals,cancer hospitals, Tri-Forces hospitals and kidney disease treatment units, taking into consideration humanitarian reasons.
He said that despite trying to solve these problems in such a way as to cause the least suffering to the people, the government and the authorities were not sensitive to these problems, so they had to launch such a strike.
by Daily News Sri Lanka
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