Monday, January 31, 2005
Medical Council's role frozen: Doctors call off strike
Special committee to review decision on RMOs/AMOs
By Damitha Hemachandra, Jeevani Pereira and Sally Campbell
In a dramatic bid to end the strike action by doctors, the Health Ministry yesterday requested the country's main medical governing body the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) to suspend its work pertaining to the dispute over the registration of Registered and Assistant Medical Officers and appointed a committee of eminent persons to look into the dispute.
After the Ministry announced the move the Government Medical Officers Association called off its token strike at 2 p.m. yesterday.
The committee to look into the dispute over the SLMC’s recognition of 44 RMOs and AMOs will be headed by the Director General of Health Services and include the President of the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA), former Medical Faculty Dean Prof. Lalitha Mendis, representatives of the GMOA, the Attorney General's Department, the SLMC and the Association of Registered and Assistant Medical Officers.
The Ministry said the committee would look into the action of the SLMC in registering 44 Registered Medical Officers and examine their qualifications. It would also look into the demand of the GMOA that a new Medical Council be appointed exclusively for medical practitioners with a correct definition of a medical practitioner and a consultant.
The GMOA said its 10,000 member doctors would resign from their SLMC registration if the recognition of the RMOs was not withdrawn. The GMOA was backed by the SLMA, other Colleges of doctors and Medical Collages.
Meanwhile, as thousands of doctors of the GMOA staged their half day token strike yesterday countrywide except in tsunami-hit areas, the SRAMO accused the doctors of being unfair and staging a strike on baseless grounds.
"According to the GMOA the Degree we have received from St. Petersburg University is a six month course done in a petrol shed. The course consisted of three years of study which included 9 months of practical work in Russia. It was sponsored by the Sri Lankan and Russian governments," SRAMO secretary Mahinda Liyanage told a news conference.
Mr. Liyanage said the first 21/2 years of study had been completed in Sri Lanka with the aid of lecturers from the Russian University and as resources were not available here, more than 44 RAMOs and AMOs had to go to Russia for six to nine months to complete essential practical work.
"Are we to go by the decision of the Supreme Court or the laws of the GMOA?" he asked referring to the GMOAs claim that the RMOs and AMOs were misinterpreting matters when they said that the Supreme Court gave a ruling for their recognition.
Mr. Liyanage said the GMOs accusation was a clear indication of its bias against the RMO and its determination to keep the RMOs in their place.
He said they appeared to be the only RMOs in the world who were denied the fundamental right to further education. "We have been appealing for this right since the inception of our service more than 100 years ago but have failed because of the continual resistence of GMO," he said adding that they were thus forced to seek education abroad.
"Yet when we tried to register the degree under the SLMC there was a refusal of recognition of it by the GMOA so we took it first to the Appeal Court and then the Supreme Court both of which declared it should be acknowledged as an official qualification," he said.
The SRAMO appealed to the GMOA to open up an alternative way for RAMOs to further their education within the country if the GMOA refused to recognise the Russian Degree
By Damitha Hemachandra, Jeevani Pereira and Sally Campbell
In a dramatic bid to end the strike action by doctors, the Health Ministry yesterday requested the country's main medical governing body the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) to suspend its work pertaining to the dispute over the registration of Registered and Assistant Medical Officers and appointed a committee of eminent persons to look into the dispute.
After the Ministry announced the move the Government Medical Officers Association called off its token strike at 2 p.m. yesterday.
The committee to look into the dispute over the SLMC’s recognition of 44 RMOs and AMOs will be headed by the Director General of Health Services and include the President of the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA), former Medical Faculty Dean Prof. Lalitha Mendis, representatives of the GMOA, the Attorney General's Department, the SLMC and the Association of Registered and Assistant Medical Officers.
The Ministry said the committee would look into the action of the SLMC in registering 44 Registered Medical Officers and examine their qualifications. It would also look into the demand of the GMOA that a new Medical Council be appointed exclusively for medical practitioners with a correct definition of a medical practitioner and a consultant.
The GMOA said its 10,000 member doctors would resign from their SLMC registration if the recognition of the RMOs was not withdrawn. The GMOA was backed by the SLMA, other Colleges of doctors and Medical Collages.
Meanwhile, as thousands of doctors of the GMOA staged their half day token strike yesterday countrywide except in tsunami-hit areas, the SRAMO accused the doctors of being unfair and staging a strike on baseless grounds.
"According to the GMOA the Degree we have received from St. Petersburg University is a six month course done in a petrol shed. The course consisted of three years of study which included 9 months of practical work in Russia. It was sponsored by the Sri Lankan and Russian governments," SRAMO secretary Mahinda Liyanage told a news conference.
Mr. Liyanage said the first 21/2 years of study had been completed in Sri Lanka with the aid of lecturers from the Russian University and as resources were not available here, more than 44 RAMOs and AMOs had to go to Russia for six to nine months to complete essential practical work.
"Are we to go by the decision of the Supreme Court or the laws of the GMOA?" he asked referring to the GMOAs claim that the RMOs and AMOs were misinterpreting matters when they said that the Supreme Court gave a ruling for their recognition.
Mr. Liyanage said the GMOs accusation was a clear indication of its bias against the RMO and its determination to keep the RMOs in their place.
He said they appeared to be the only RMOs in the world who were denied the fundamental right to further education. "We have been appealing for this right since the inception of our service more than 100 years ago but have failed because of the continual resistence of GMO," he said adding that they were thus forced to seek education abroad.
"Yet when we tried to register the degree under the SLMC there was a refusal of recognition of it by the GMOA so we took it first to the Appeal Court and then the Supreme Court both of which declared it should be acknowledged as an official qualification," he said.
The SRAMO appealed to the GMOA to open up an alternative way for RAMOs to further their education within the country if the GMOA refused to recognise the Russian Degree
