GMOA on warpath over docs being charged for repeat exams

January 8, 2012, 9:17 pm , The Island.

By Don Asoka Wijewardena

Controversy surrounds a decision by the Post- Graduate Institute of Medicine (PGIM) to charge Rs. 190,000 and Rs. 140,000 from 30 doctors sitting the Oncology Part 1 and Part 2 of the Doctor of Medicine (MD) repeat examination, to cover accommodation, air fare etc of foreign examiners who will come from Australia and the United Kingdom.

The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) would meet Secretary to the Health Ministry over this issue today. The GMOA would not hesitate to take a strong Trade Union action, unless the Ministry intervened to sort out the issue immediately, GMOA General Secretary Dr. Chandika Epitakaduwa told The Island.

Dr. Epitakaduwa said that the PGIM had taken an unjust decision to charge unreasonable examination fees from all doctors who had applied for the Oncology part 1 and part 2. He said the GMOA was aware that the University Grants Commission (UGC) had issued guidelines to the PGIM on the examination fees. "Why should doctors doing their post-graduate studies pay such huge sums? The UGC and the Health Ministry should bear the cost of having foreign examiners here and we feel that PGIM is trying to exploit doctors," Dr. Epitakaduwa said.