Today, July 19, at 8 a.m., the outpatient division of Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children (LRH) in Colombo began a 24-hour token strike.
The ‘unacceptable’ and ‘unprofessional’ behaviour of a female specialist doctor at the hospital, which has been a long-standing issue at the hospital, was the cause of the strike, according to the spokesperson for the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA), Dr. Chamil Wijesinghe.
Despite numerous complaints from other medical officials against the specialty doctor, according to Dr. Wijesinghe, the hospital’s director has not resolved the situation by taking action against her.
As a result, the organisation felt obligated to bring the issue to the attention of Director-General of Health Services (DGHS) Dr. Asela Gunawardena. However, despite three weeks having passed, he has yet to make good on his commitment to fix the matter within seven days, the GMOA spokeswoman said.
As a result, the hospital’s outpatient department began a 24-hour symbolic strike; however, the GMOA spokesperson added that emergency treatments continue regardless of the trade union action.
LHR Director Dr. G. Wijesuriya claimed in a conversation with Ada Derana that he had not received formal notice of the token strike taking place today. “I know about the token strike. However, I was not told.
The hospital administrator acknowledged that the specialty doctor’s behaviour has been a problem for a while because of her reputation for rudeness. But he pointed out that the striking physicians are not employed by the aforementioned specialty physician.
“Measures have been made to prevent patients from being admitted to the ward where the aforementioned specialty doctor is attached. Beyond that, there is nothing more I can do. In any case, I don’t have the power to fire or demote a physician that the Public Service Commission nominated.
