GMOA rebel faction to break ranks to hoist alternate trade union

*No such move – GMOA Asst. Secretary
*Constitution finalized - spokesman

January 21, 2012, 7:27 pm , The Island

by Suresh Perera

A rebel group of medical practitioners is making clandestine plans to break away from the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) and form an alternate trade union to tide over, what a spokesman last week described as "the prevailing inaction and impotency which have denied doctors their just rights and privileges".

"We have already finalized our Constitution", he asserted. "The strategic move to break ranks and hoist our own trade union arm will happen when everything falls into place".

The spokesman and other medical practitioners actively involved in ongoing structural work on the proposed outfit requested anonymity as they feared suspension or even expulsion from the GMOA if they were identified. The union’s constitution provides for such disciplinary action.

"We will make the official announcement at the right time", the spokesman noted. "As for now, we need to operate under cover until the logistics are worked out and the official registration process is completed".

"There is no move whatsoever by any members to create a new faction", countered Dr. Upul Gunasekera, GMOA’s Assistant Secretary. "These are mere rumors".

"Let the GMOA be content with this pacifying thought until we are ready to come out to the open and challenge them", the spokesman shot back. "They are entitled to their right to remain in the dark".

Asked how many active members are on the job laying the ground work, he replied, "Around 100 doctors serving in hospitals island-wide, including the North and East, are working with us. Amongst them are 25 former GMOA executive committee members. Initially, we expect a membership of 500 plus when the outfit is launched, hopefully in February 2012".

The GMOA started with just 10 members, he pointed out. "We have a target to achieve as we march on, with a projected four digit membership in one year’s time".

At the last GMOA Annual General Meeting (AGM), around 1,200 members supported another candidate for the presidency, the spokesman said. "This means there are people who want a change as they are unhappy with the unfolding developments".

"There cannot be room for a breakaway faction as the GMOA stands united and we are proud of it", Dr. Gunasekera stressed. "Unity is of paramount importance to take our struggle forward".

The GMOA has proven to be a miserable failure – a virtual non-entity, the spokesman charged. "Has the leadership of this trade union been able to win any demands since assuming office?"

Take the key demands to push up doctors’ salaries to 200,000 rupees and the ‘disturbance allowance’ to 33,000 rupees (From the present 12,500 rupees) and grant a communication allowance of 6,000 rupees, he said "At the last GMOA election in June 2011,, they promised to deliver but the absence of a strategic plan had failed to win any of these demands so far".

"This is totally false. We don’t place all the benefits we have got for our members in the public domain. They are published in our news letter and also discussed at our general committee meetings", says Dr. Sankalpa Marasinghe, GMOA’s Assistant Secretary.

These are allegations made by a certain set of individuals who lost the last (GMOA) election, he noted. "They are baseless".

The spokesman said the GMOA protested against the Private Medical College (PMC) and appointments to the SLMC, but the government ignored the rumblings and went ahead with it. "This shows the trade union has lost its steam".

"Do you know what has happened to the PMC? It is on hold as an investigation is in progress. The green light to set up this college had been given by the GMOA at that time", Dr. Marasinghe asserted.

With its negotiating power gone, the GMOA no longer makes an impact, the spokesman asserted. "That’s why trade union action has become the first option now to achieve its objectives".

"There is a complaint filed in the SLMC against two GMOA Exco members by another medical practitioner", he alleged. "The inquiry is ongoing".

"There are no such complaints before the SLMC", the Assistant Secretary insisted. "I know who is giving such misleading information.

The spokesman claimed that another GMOA member, a medical specialist, remains in Colombo using his position in the trade union while some key hospitals in the country do not have a single doctor in this discipline to treat patients.