The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) has temporarily called off the island-wide strike that was scheduled to commence at 8.00 a.m. today (31).

Issuing a statement, the GMOA said that the decision to temporarily call off the strike was taken based on the agreements reached during a special discussion held last night (30) between the Minister of Health, Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, the Director General of Health Services, and the GMOA. 

The association stated that it had agreed to suspend the transfers of doctors that the Ministry of Health had attempted to implement arbitrarily, in violation of the accepted methodology, and instead implement the transfers within a specified time frame following the accepted procedure.

It further noted that these agreements are to be confirmed during a special discussion with the administrative doctors of the Ministry of Health, scheduled to be held today.

Accordingly, considering the agreements reached, the GMOA has decided to temporarily extend the suspension of the strike announced by its Executive Council until 12 noon today, pending written confirmation of the agreements during the discussion with the administrative doctors.

The GMOA further warned that if the agreements are not implemented as promised, the strike will be resumed at any time.