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| Sunday, 21 September 2003 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Mafia tactics by health workers by Shanika Sriyananda Hopes of an early end to the ongoing health sector strike faded yesterday as the Health Sector Trade Union Alliance (HSTUA) resorting to mafia tactics threatened to extend their strike to the Maharagama Cancer hospital if they do not receive a favourable response to their demands by 7.00 am, tomorrow. They also threatened to withdraw emergency services from hospitals islandwide by 12.00 noon, the same day if their demands are not met by then. The HSTUA initiated trade union action on September 17 demanding that a salary anomaly be rectified. Health Ministry officials released the amended Ministerial Committee Report to the Alliance, on Saturday, but the HSTUA extended the strike further demanding the Ministry rectify the salary anomaly, immediately. They followed it up with renewed threat of holding both cancer patients and those seeking emergency services to ransom. "Emergency services in hospitals islandwide will be withdrawn, if the authorities fail to grant our demands before 12 noon, tomorrow", Saman Ratnapriya, Associated Convenor of the Alliance warned. Over 50,000 HSTUA members together with the members of other Government and private sector trade union members are also expected to stage a demonstration at the Lipton Circle at 12 noon, tomorrow. The HSTUA earlier assured that its members at the Cancer Hospital, Maharagama, Lady Ridgeway Children's Hospital and the two maternity hospitals would not join the strike. "As the authorities have not shown any desire to solve our problem we have to extend the strike to some of these hospitals", Ratnapriya said. Although most of the services in all major hospitals have been crippled due to the strike, hospital authorities have managed to continue functioning with the assistance of the armed forces and police personnel. However, over 4000 surgeries have been postponed. Meanwhile, Health Ministry taking stringent measurers, has terminated over 700 casual employees. New employees were being recruited last week to fill the vacant posts. HSTUA sources said that termination of their members was not the solution and they are not ready to work with the new recruits who do not have proper training. However, the HSTUA has written to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe requesting that he intervene and solve their problems. Dr. Athula Kahandaliyanage, Director General Health Services, told the Sunday Observer there was no reason for extending the strike further as the revised report had been handed over to the HSTUA "Now the decision of rectifying the anomaly is in the hands of the Treasury", he added. According to Ministry sources, the government needs over Rs. 3,300 million annually to rectify the salary anomaly of the HSTUA members. "This is not an easy task and the Ministry alone cannot take an independent decision", the sources said. Meanwhile, patients' rights protection groups has once again requested the government to establish Arbitrary Boards. Louis Benedict, National Organiser of the National Movement for the Rights of Patient (NMRP), an umbrella organisation comprising civic and grassroots level groups was of the view that arbitrary boards were one of the most successful methods to solve frequent strikes in the health sector. He said that they had proposed to the Health Ministry as well as the Labour Ministry, but claimed that no action had been taken so far to set up these boards. "Unlike other sectors, health deals with life and death. Arbitrary Boards are necessary to stop these trade union actions who ransom the poor patients to win their demands", he said. Siripala Perera, President, OPPR said that they strongly request the government to put a halt to these unfair and unethical trade union action which play with poor patients lives. |
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