June 25, 2013, 6:45 pm


Hardly a week passes by without our reading of trade union activity in one sector or another in the Health Dept. H.D.) The HD according to a former C.C.S. officer - they knew what administration was - was the most complex dept. he had to cope with due to the multitude of grades and the inevitable problems ingrained therein. Very unfortunately, the work of the HD is so intertwined with one another that when one section is on strike, the rest of the work goes haywire.

But who suffers? It has to be conceded that amongst those affected are the poorest of the poor with nowhere else to turn to. Not all the pictures in the printed or electronic media could depict the hardships encountered by the public in a HD strike. Those who have worked in outstations may recall seeing seriously ill patients being carried all the way in chairs over unmotorable terrain to hospital. After all the gruelling labour, were the relatives to be told that a HD strike was on, one could imagine the frustration of the affected party. When I was working in an outstation Base Hospital, I saw a group of around twenty elderly grey haired ladies squatting in the hospital car garage. Out of curiosity, I inquired as to why they were gathered there at lunch time. I was saddened to hear the travails they undergo to attend the fortnightly clinic.

They were all from diverse far off places where transport facilities were very unreliable. They all had come the previous evening as they regularly do, to camp out in the garage, in order to collect their clinic numbers in the morning to attend the afternoon clinic a After all the hassle they hoped to collect the precious fortnightly supply of medicines in the afternoon with the prospect of a late lunch, back at home!

Whatever the authorities could do to avert the regular disruption of work in HD will be most welcome. With the ominous spectre of dreaded dengue assuming epidemic proportions the country needs the HD on full alert.

There is no better time than now to request the unions to desist from strike action for a trial period of say six months during which period any disputes could go into mediation or arbitration. Perhaps during this period the employees may see for themselves a pleasanter and conciliatory approach which may catch on.

One is reminded of the islandwide strike of medical officers which was planned to take effect in 1956/57. At the final GMOA meeting at which the decision was to be ratified the Prime Minister Mr. SWRD personally appeared to plead before the members to agree to mediation. His eloquence saved the day for the government.

Aegee Abeywickrama

island.lk