Token strike at Lady Ridgeway Hospital called off

The token strike at the outpatient department of Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children (LRH) in Colombo has been called off, says Dr. Chamil Wijesinghe, the spokesperson of Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA).

The medical officers at the LRH launched a 24-hour strike at 8.00 a.m. this morning (July 19) in protest of the conduct of a female specialist doctor at the hospital.

Deeming the conduct of the specialist doctor ‘unprofessional’ and ‘unacceptable’, the GMOA sought immediate solutions for the ‘longstanding issue’.

Earlier, Dr. Wijesinghe said the hospital’s director had failed to resolve the matter and take any action against the specialist doctor in question despite the repeated complaints made against her.

This compelled the association to bring the matter to the attention of Director-General of Health Services (DGHS) Dr. Asela Gunawardena, however, he too has failed to fulfill his promise to resolve the issue within seven days although three weeks have already passed, the GMOA spokesperson had said further.

The token strike was, however, called off after the Health Ministry’s secretary promised in writing to probe the matter and to fulfil the requests made by the government medical officers.