GMOA worries about future of SLMC

January 5, 2012, 10:22 pm , The Island.

By Dilanthi Jayamanne

The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) expressed its concern over the future of the Sri Lanka Medical Council under its newly appointed head, Prof. Carlo Fonseka. GMOA Additional Secretary Dr. Upul Gunasekera said yesterday they would meet all stakeholders – a second meeting within two months - to discuss the present situation and request a meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa to discuss the issue.

Dr. Gunasekera said they had requested a meeting with the President for the same reason on a previous occasion to no avail. He expressed the GMOA’s concern from the beginning due to the newly appointed SLMC chief’s political affiliations. "The SLMC is strictly an independent body devoid of political interference," he said that its main function is to protect the quality of the health service provided to people of this country by maintaining the standards of the medical profession. "It is also the body which ensures the dignity of all health professionals," he said.

The first round of discussions were held with the participation of the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA), the GMOA, the SLMC, all professional colleges, student union representatives and the Independent Medical Practitioners Association. They all took a unanimous decision to call for the re-appointment of Prof. Lalitha Mendis.

Prof. Carlo Fonseka was appointed the President of the SLMC early this week.

Despite the GMOA’s concerns several other professional trade unions in the health sector have hailed Prof. Fonseka’s appointment as SLMC chief. The Health Services Trade Union Alliance (HSTUA) extended its support to Prof. Fonseka.

President of the HSTUA Saman Ratnapriya said that the SLMC had maintained a silence and failed to protect the rights of the nursing and other allied health science students studying at the Allied Health Science Faculty in the face of strong GMOA opposition. They failed to oppose the GMOA efforts to reduce the number of years and the training period allocated to them within the last two years.

However, Prof. Fonseka had worked towards protecting the courses of the faculty, he said.

President of the Sri Lanka Society for Medical Laboratory Science (SLSMLS) Ravi Kumudesh said they had written to the President urging him to refrain from annulling Prof. Fonseka’s appointment as SLMC chief due to GMOA opposition. "The country would have to opt for trade unionists to fill such positions in the end as no scholar would want to accept a position if it were to be annulled due to the whims and fancies of a certain section," he said.

"It’s a well known fact that the SLMC awarded registration to bogus medical laboratory technologists (MLTs) and diploma awarding business’s in the past. However Prof. Fonseka is capable of restoring the situation back to normal," he added.