A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Thursday, May 11, 2017
'Time is ripe for you to resign' - Dr. Sarath Gamini De Silva’s letter advises Dr. Padeniya the cause of total loss of prestige and dignity of the doctors !
(Lanka-e-News
-10.May.2017, 8.45PM) Dr. Padeniya , the president of the GMOA has
been organizing unnecessary strikes , as a result of which the prestige
and dignity the GMOA and the doctors in general commanded among the
people have been completely torn into shreds .Therefore the GMOA
members should not be permitted to meet with political party leaders .
In the circumstances the time is now ripe for Dr. Padeniya to resign
from his post of GMOA president , Dr. Sarath Gamini De Silva
(Physician), a member of the GMOA has strongly advised in a letter sent
to Dr. Padeniya.
The full text of the letter of Dr. Gamini De Silva addressed to Dr.Padeniya is hereunder …
Dr. A Padeniya,
President,
Government Medical Officers’ Association,
Colombo.
President,
Government Medical Officers’ Association,
Colombo.
Dear Dr. Padeniya,
Having observed the various developments in the health sector and in
medical education in the past few years, I thought of writing to you on
my appraisal of the current situation. I hope it is not too late in the
day to write to you.
I write as a senior physician, a medical teacher, a past member of the
Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) for ten years, and a former vice
president and a long serving committee member of the Government Medical
Officers Association (GMOA). I have been in the fore front of many GMOA
trade union activities, occasional strikes, and was a part of the
public face of the GMOA in TV discussions, press conferences etc. I
argued then that a union having to resort to strikes to win its demands
was actually a sign of its weakness rather than its strength, as it is
an admission that the union has failed in its negotiations.
You were considered a great asset by all in the GMOA as a man who
studied the issues in depth and knew his facts before coming for any
discussions. I still remember how in our negotiations over salary
issues, you had at your finger tips all details of the comparative
salary scales of all categories in the health sector. I remember
congratulating you when you were elected the president on the first two
occasions, but did not approve when you continued to hold office later.
Let me clarify my position regarding SAITM at the very outset. I do so
as a member of the SLMC who took part in the initial discussions with
Dr. Neville Fernando on the establishment of SAITM, took part in many
relevant discussions in the SLMC until 2012 and also was also part of
the UGC team inspecting the medical school.
I have no doubt that the SAITM authorities ignored all advice and
guidance given by the SLMC on numerous occasions. Instead they have
relied on political patronage to get the approval in a surreptitious
way. How three cabinet ministers keep agitating for the sake of this
private enterprise raises many questions as to what their obligations
are.
I have little sympathy for the students and their parents as they have
been adequately warned regularly by the SLMC over the years on the fact
that this institution was not recognized by the medical council. I fail
to understand why even some senior members of the medical profession
took the risk of admitting their children to a medical school lacking
SLMC approval.
That being said, I accept that any solution to the current crisis should
recognize the necessity of allowing those students to continue their
medical studies. Once that is done, this fraudulent medical school
should be closed down. It is not practical for the state to take over
every private medical school getting into difficulties. With
plans in the pipeline for establishing state medical schools elsewhere
in the country, there is no necessity for one in Malabe at state
expense. I accept that there is room for a properly constituted private
medical school in Sri Lanka, guided and recognized by the SLMC.
Let me now examine the role of the GMOA in the SAITM affair. It has
expressed its opposition to the existence of SAITM in no uncertain
terms. However I feel there is no justification for repeated strike
action to achieve its aims. The hardship caused to the public is really
saddening. I would not hesitate to label these strikes as a crime against society.
Perhaps you may remember that we had definite guidelines in undertaking
harsh trade union action in the past. It was generally accepted that
strike action should not be used for salary issues and others of a more
personal nature. Any suggestion for going on strike demanding good
schools for our own children would have been unthinkable then.
We considered strike action as a last resort to protest against
irregular transfers and appointments to keep the health service out of
political interference. We succeeded in achieving the latter aim to a
great extent. We had regional strikes if a member of ours was obstructed
by any one during work and police did not apprehend the offenders. I
feel all those short lasting actions were justified as they were
inevitable.
We also had a general understanding that we should not seek the support
of trade unions in other fields for any reason. That would have made us
under obligation to join them in their struggles. This was considered
unacceptable as our service of caring for the sick cannot be mixed up
with or compromised by any of their fields of activity.
What happens now is totally unacceptable. GMOA officials
publicly calling general strikes is a bad trend. Doctors going on
strike for general political issues like the ICTA are also unwarranted.
For the first time in the history, you have allowed a political party
leader to address the GMOA membership. As I already indicated to you
personally, this should never have happened.
The net result of all this is that in the public eye, the GMOA
has become equivalent to any other trouble making union in the public
sector. The public has lost all respect for the GMOA and the medical
profession in general. It is inevitable that many suspect that your
actions are a part of a larger campaign to create political instability.
I know you are a very caring paediatric neurologist and a medical
teacher doing your duty properly in the health service. You are
respected by the GMOA members for the service rendered in getting their
emoluments and other benefits on par with other comparable services.
The fact that, as president of the GMOA, you have done much work
including publishing booklets and conducting workshops guiding doctors
to better professional standards, is little known to many in the
society.
Yet I believe that you have been the president of the GMOA for too long.
You now lack new thinking and when in “power” you tend to ignore the
general feelings of the membership. This is why even in the field of
politics, I believe no one, however good he may appear, should be
allowed to remain in power for more than two terms.
You should plan to step down when your current term expires. You
can render a much greater service to society if you now devote full
time for your clinical work. After all, paediatric neurology is a
relatively new field that needs people like you with energy, imagination
and leadership qualities for further development.
I sincerely hope that you will take my advice in the same spirit that I give them.
Thank you.
Yours Sincerely,