Poor facilities: 250 doctors quit jobs annually - GMOA

by Shanika Sriyananda

The Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA) says that nearly 250 doctors including consultants quit government service to join the private sector hospitals and foreign jobs annually due to poor facilities given to them to carry out their duties.

According to the GMOA, new vacancies for medical officers are now created naturally as the number of medical officers leaving the government hospitals continues.

Doctors, according to the GMOA, do not demand from the government salaries on par with other western countries but request to provide the basic facilities, especially in remote areas. GMOA General Secretary Dr. Uditha Herath told the Sunday Observer that the medical officers are leaving due to lack of facilities such as accommodation and transport.

"There is no guarantee about security for the doctors working in the North and East. Especially, transport facilities are very poor for those who work in remote areas", he said.

According to Dr. Herath, consultants go abroad not mainly because of low salaries but due to lack of resources. One female consultant who had returned from Australia has been posted to Ampara and asked to rent a house", he said.

Of the seven Nephrologists who went abroad for higher education during the past seven years only two Consultant Nephrologists have returned to the country. According to reports, seven doctors left the Lady Ridgeway Hospital recently.

Meanwhile, the GMOA warns that unless urgent measures are taken by the Government to redress this situation, more doctors will leave the State sector for better perks.