GMOA tells Carlo not  to be a dictator

January 26, 2012, 10:24 pm , The Island.

By Don Asoka Wijewardena

Government Medical Officers Association President Dr. Anuruddda Padeniya yesterday requested Sri Lanka Medical Council President Prof. Carlo Fonseka not to be a dictator when taking decisions at the council. During the decision-making processes of the SLMC its President was required to listen to the comments, suggestions and objections of other members, he said.

The latest GMOA outburst came over a statement made by Prof. Fonseka that he would discuss with unsuccessful ERPM examination medical students’ parents and do them justice. All foreign qualified medical graduates are required to pass the Examination Registration to Practice Medicine (ERPM) in Sri Lanka.

The SLMC’s main functions were to maintain a standard medical service, code of ethics for doctors and professionalism. It had been maintaining the medical profession independently. If personal interests and decisions of its President were applied, the credibility of the medical profession would fade away, Dr. Padeniya told a Media Conference at the GMOA Head Office.

He said that it was a pre-requisite of each doctor to pass the ERPM examination before practicing medicine here. A doctor who failed the ERPM examination could not practice medicine. There were doctors who had not been able to pass the examination. When some unsuccessful ERPM exam doctors’ parents met the SLMC President, he had told them that he would try to find out the cause of examination failure and settle it.

The GMOA President said that there were guidelines to maintain the quality of examinations. If doctors failed the relevant examinations, lowering of standard pass marks would do more harm than good to the profession. It was a breach of professional etiquette, he said.

Regarding the transport allowance of doctors Dr. Padeniya pointed out that when the GMOA representatives met President Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2008, he agreed to provide Rs. 30,000 as transport allowance. Currently, only Rs. 12,500 was given to doctors. That amount was not enough for the Disturbance, Availability and Transport Allowance. He said the GMOA would request the government to implement it without delay.