{"id":87282,"date":"2019-04-18T16:24:41","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T23:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=87282"},"modified":"2019-09-19T14:57:56","modified_gmt":"2019-09-19T21:57:56","slug":"health-education-and-yahapalana-part-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/04\/18\/health-education-and-yahapalana-part-5\/","title":{"rendered":"HEALTH, EDUCATION AND YAHAPALANA Part 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA  PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Revised 20.6.19<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

HEALTH<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We start with\nSunshine stories\u201d. Here they are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • European standard hospitals will be established in Hambantota,\nPanadura, Dambulla, Matale and Embilipitiya with German, Netherlands and French\naid. <\/li>
  • New accident wards are to be\nestablished in 24 General Hospitals and Teaching Hospitals located island wide.<\/li>
  •  A total of 48 blood transfusion centres have\nalready been established island wide.<\/li>
  • A  clinical wastage\nrecycling project, spending Rs. 2600 million will  be launched.\n<\/li>
  • A foreign company will invest in E-Health system and issue\nE-Health cards for Sri Lankans .the company will include all State hospitals in\nthe E-Health system. It has provided E-Health cards for 40 million people in\nAndhra Pradesh in India. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The country\u2019s\nhealth care system will be digitized via an E-Health policy. According to the\nE-Health policy, all citizens will be issued E-Health Cards which will record\ntheir health conditions so that any doctor can have history of their patients.\nThe E-Health System will be introduced to 45 Hospitals in the next two years\n2018-19 .it is to be expanded to 300 hospitals following the initial\nimplementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • The government is to launch a project to manufacture a key\ningredient in medical products using liters of blood plasma daily unused in the\ncountry. We will have a joint project with United States of America and India\nto produce certain ingredients which are very important in some medical\nproducts. When we export blood plasma, these countries manufacture these\ningredients and export them back to our country for very high prices. With this\nnew project, we will receive a quantity of these products for our local use. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      In 2017, The Government\nMedical Officers\u2019 Association (GMOA)\nurged  the Health ministry to appoint a\nsuitable officer to the post of Director General of   Health services. This is the apex position in\nthe health services and the post has been vacant for nearly one year now with\nan acting DGHS. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      In 2018 The GMOA\nasked the Health Ministry to fill the 148 Deputy Director posts which had\nfallen vacant instead of creating  \u2018Acting Deputy Directors\u2019. There were\n180 Deputy Director posts in the country and 148 of them were vacant. the\nvacancies had been advertised about one year back. But, no attempt had been\nmade to fill them. Medical\nSuperintendents in Base hospitals, Deputy Directors in all major hospitals,\nDeputy Regional Directors come under the category of Deputy Director. State-run\nhospitals are facing a crisis due to the delays in appointments.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      In 2018 the Government Medical Officers\u2019\nAssociation  warned it would resort to a\nstrike if the North Central Provincial Council attempted to bring doctors\nserving in the province under the Provincial health service. North Central\nProvince (NCP) had, in a letter, informed the Provincial Director Health\nServices that the Council had taken a decision to absorb doctors under its\npurview. GMOA said doctors belonged to\nthe All-Island service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The doctors\nhad also wanted to take up with the Governor NCP several other issues including\nIndian medical officers conducting mobile clinics in the East, the misuse of\nWorld Bank funds and the delay in paying doctors\u2019 overtime. A group of GMOA\nrepresentatives in the East who attempted to take up those issues at a meeting\nwith Governor on March 29 had been threatened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Puttalam\nnurses staged a demonstration in March 2018 saying that they had worked in\nPuttalam for nine years and had got transfer orders but the hospital is not\nletting them go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Doctors protested in 2018 against an\nappointment of a second vascular surgeon to the Ragama Teaching Hospital\n(Colombo North Teaching Hospital) from outside the annual transfer list. The surgeon involved was sent to the\nAnuradhapura Teaching Hospital in 2016.Two years later a special position had\nbeen created for a second vascular surgeon at Colombo North Teaching Hospital\n(CNTH), Ragama and this surgeon appointed to it, in violation of the annual\ntransfer list. Doctors allege that the\nsecond position had been created to accommodate this particular surgeon. Director of the Ragama hospital told the\nDirector General Health Services, that two vascular specialists are not required\nin his hospital as the hospital doesn\u2019t have a specialized unit for vascular\nsurgery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The post of\nthe Chief Epidemiologist was always held by a qualified epidemiologist but a\ndoctor without the required medical knowledge \nwas   appointed to this position\nin 2017. Protests were made by the\nGMOA, former Chief Epidemiologists, current Epidemiologists and senior\nacademics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Chief\nEpidemiologist, Dr. Paba Palihawadana, sought and obtained no-pay leave from\nthe Health Ministry to join the UN service for one year, in 2017. While she was\non no-pay leave, another senior public health specialist of the Epidemiology\nUnit acted for the Chief Epidemiologist. However, when Dr. Palihawadana\nreported back for duty as Chief Epidemiologist on January 1, 2018, she found\nthat another person had been appointed to the post. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Dr. A.  Dissanayake was appointed as Chief\nEpidemiologist on December 19, 2017, There was an advertisement, I applied and\nI was selected,\u201d he said, pointing out that the appointment was made by the\nPublic Service Commission in accordance with the prevailing medical minutes. Dr. Dissanayake said he had headed the\nNational Blood Transfusion Service for several years.  Before that he was Regional Director of\nHealth Services (RDHS) in Kalutara, where he was handling everything\u201d. The medical profession did not agree. They\nsaid Dr D. did not have the necessary qualifications.  He had a M.Sc in Medical Administration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      According\nto  circular No. 02-132\/2000 dated\nSeptember 26, 2000, the Chief Epidemiologist should be a Board certified\nConsultant in Community Medicine with work experience in epidemiology,. These\ncriteria are also included in the Medical Services Minute of 2014. All Consultants attached to the Epidemiology\nUnit have these qualifications and field experience in epidemiology-related\nactivities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The\nEpidemiology Unit is responsible for controlling communicable diseases. If\nthere is a major outbreak of a communicable disease, the Epidemiology Unit, will\nnot be able to handle the crisis with a non-technical head without a background\nin epidemiology, Sri Lanka\u2019s much-commended public health system would crash\nwith the next outbreak of disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      All\nepidemiological-related activities \u2014 which include communicable disease control\nand the immunization programme \u2013 are coordinated and implemented through\nRegional Epidemiologists based at district-level. When the Regional\nEpidemiologists need any technical input, it has to be provided by the Chief\nEpidemiologist. the Chief\nEpidemiologist has to provide technical advice and guidance to these\nConsultants. The doctors will not be ready to follow the medical instructions\ngiven by a doctor who does not have the requisite knowledge. That is why we\nthink that the current Chief Epidemiologist cannot handle the job,\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Doctors\npointed out that a non-technical doctor  had been appointed to head the Dengue Control\nProgramme. He had abandoned\u201d his post during the height of the dengue epidemic\nin 2017. The main reason for influenza reaching the epidemic level in the\nSouthern Province is the appointment of a  doctor without the relevant medical knowledge\nto the post of Chief Epidemiologist, said the GMOA in May 2018. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The influenza\nstarted to spread in the Southern Province one month ago, but nothing was done\nto control it, The Chief Epidemiologist kept mum. Now it is up to the parents\nand the school authorities to control the outbreak and prevent it from\nspreading all over the country.  The\nEpidemiology Unit and the Chief Epidemiologist is not ready to face any\npossible disease outbreak that could occur as a result of the present floods,\neither.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ***<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Namal Gamage has\ndecided, in July 2018, to stop performing surgeries as the air-conditioner at\nthe Karapitiya Teaching Hospital was not functioning. There were around 3,000\nheart patients waiting to undergo heart surgery at the hospital. Although a\nnumber of requests had been made for repairing the central air-conditioning\nsystem, no action had been taken, The\npatients also made the same request to the authorities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The Health Ministry said in 2017 it would make\nuse of theatres at private hospitals to perform cardiac and eye surgeries to\nclear waiting lists at government hospitals. The surgeons and staff would be\nfrom the government and private sectors.  Health Ministry would meet the cost. The\nprivate hospitals  have submitted their\ncharges for each surgery and the time table during which the operations could\nbe performed. The Private Sector Regulatory Authority would study the report\nand come up with an action plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The Emergency medical\nService system of the country will soon be strengthened with eight Airbus\nHelicopters and 28 state-of-the-art emergency vehicles, said the Ministry in\n2017. Steiger\nFoundation of Germany will provide 24 helicopters, 1,025 ambulances and 24\nemergency vehicles. Helicopters\nwill be  useful addition to the system,  considering  \nroad traffic congestion . Sometimes\nambulances could not travel through roads due to traffic congestion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The government  announced that it has decided to continue with\nSri Lanka\u2019s pioneering  Pre Hospital\nEmergency Care Ambulance Service, Suwasariya, launched with Indian financial\nbacking  in 2016. the free ambulance services now operating in\nWestern and Southern Provinces will be expanded covering the entire country\nby  2018. Joint Opposition pointed out in\nParliament  that  it was the ambulance service in the hospitals\nwhich should be expanded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The Indian firm GVK EMRI LANKA operated the\nfree ambulance  service through a\nPublic-Private Partnership with the Ministry of Health,. The operation is a 24\nhour, 7 days a week, round the clock service, the Control Centre received over\n322,000 calls and has served over 32,000 cases, out of which, cardio, trauma,\nand stroke were the major cases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      In a Memorandum to the Cabinet of Ministers,\nWickremesinghe had said that the Pre Hospital Emergency Care Ambulance Service,\nwhich was launched in the Western and Southern Provinces with GVK EMRI Lanka\nLimited and assistance of the Indian Government on July 29, 2016 had by April\n2017, responded to 236,000 calls with an average responding time of 12.52\nminutes and transported 130 to 135 patients daily. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      In a \u2018letter to the editor\u2019 which was supposedly\nto praise a hospital ward, \u2018Concerned woman\u2019 heaped praise on the Indian\nambulance service which she said was excellent. The service included a  doctor, a nurse and nurse aide. They were\ntrained in India,  including  the driver. They knew emergency medical\naction. they were considerate and capable. They helped revive her husband with\nemergency first aid. All this at no cost thanks to the present government, she\nsaid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Health Ministry has. in 2018,  outsourced the laundry services of hospitals\nin the Western Province to an Indian Company, complained Government Medical\nOfficers\u2019 Association  . The GMOA wanted\nthis outsourcing of the laundry in government hospitals to an Indian Company,\nstopped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The Ministry\nsaid that the new  laundry  service would be provided  by the Sri Lankan affiliate of India’s Sugram\nHospital Solutions, which is engaged in laundry services at several hospitals\nworldwide, The service is a Board of\nInvestment (BOI) project under the Build, Operate, & Transfer (BOT) method\nwith a  USD 4 7.5 million investment. The\ngovernment does not bear any expenses for the project. Constructing  of  buildings and installing required machinery, will\nbe done at the expense of the investors, After 15 years the project, with up to\ndate technology will be transferred to the Ministry of Health. More than 300 unemployed youths will be\ngiven employment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Under the\nproject, the garments used by the patients and staff during the surgical\nprocedures will be sterilized using modern methods, washed and ironed, sealed\nin protective covers, and transported to the hospitals in sterilized trucks. The Ministry of Health will spend less than\nthe cost incurred by the hospitals on local laundry services at present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

       The Ministry said doctors in Western Province\nhad complained about the local providers who were engaged in the laundry\nservice for the hospitals in the Western Province. They were using substandard materials for sterilization,  they were not sterilizing, there was  delay in providing cleaned laundry to\nhospitals during rainy season,  and the\npossible spread of skin related diseases due to incomplete cleaning also,\nwhite-colored bed linen are brownish. They were washed with water from the\nBeira Lake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      GMOA replied that the local agencies involved\nin washing hospital linen had been registered with and certified by the Health\nMinistry after calling for tenders. They were experienced and met the required\nstandards. The charge that Beira Lake\nwater was used for washing hospital linen was incorrect. GMOA wanted to know\nwhether cleaner water was to be brought from India or whether linen was to be\nsent to India to be washed and brought back to Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      This was yet another instance of Sri Lankan\npoliticians acting as agents of foreign countries. They were selling government\ninstitutions and services to foreign companies, said GMOA.   GMOA had warned that the Economic and\nTechnology Corporation Agreement (ETCA) would threaten the services and\nprofessions in Sri Lanka. Now, it seems that not even small enterprises and\nfamily trade would be safe with ECTA, \nsaid GMOA. This project\nhas no relevance to ETCA, replied the Ministry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      there were 13\nlocal drug manufacturers who locally produce 82 items for the State\nPharmaceuticals Manufacturing Corporation, said the Ministry at a media briefing\nin 2017. Ten more local manufacturers producing 40 more items will join the\nlocal drug manufacturing in the near future. a total of 38 agreements have been\nsigned between the government and the local drug manufacturers to produce drugs\nin Sri Lanka .Sri Lanka has already begun local drug production at two\nfactories situated in Kandy and Horana. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Sri Lanka\nexpects to produce 80% of its drug requirements by the end of 2018, which will\nsave USD 400 million plus annually which the government spends for drug\nimportation. Accordingly, the importation of all drugs which can be produced\nlocally, will be stopped by the end of 2018. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      **&<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The State Pharmaceuticals\nManufacturing Corporation of Sri Lanka (SPMC) and Pharma Zone (Pvt) Ltd entered\ninto an agreement in January 2018, to build the first ever exclusive\npharmaceutical manufacturing zone (Pharma Zone) of Sri Lanka. It will be located\non 50 acres in Welipenna, Kalutara district at an investment of over US $ 10\nmillion. to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The Pharma Zone is a BOI approved\ncompany whose principals are the Sultan of Johor and Patrick Lim Soo Kit, a\nleading Malaysian entrepreneur. This is\na 100 % Malaysian investment and it underlines the high regard that the Sultan\nand the people of Johor for Sri Lanka, said the Ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The Zone will be run and administered\nby Pharma Zone, headed by Patrick Lim Soo Kit, while the SPMC along with the\nMinistry of Health will set the standards and monitor quality. Electricity,\nwater, road infrastructure, security, waste water management,  will l be provided to the companies operating\nwithin the Zone. it is the intention of Pharma Zone to attract overseas\ninvestors to set up operations within the Zone as well. “We will be\nmarketing Pharma Zone regionally,” said Lim. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Pharma Zone will facilitate the local\npharmaceutical manufacturers with sufficient land for manufacturing plants and\nbasic infrastructure facilities for the manufacture of pharmaceutical products.\nSo that the government can achieve its target of localising production of\nessential pharmaceutical items to a value of US$100 million. with the\ncompletion of the Pharma Zone, envisaged to be in operation within one year,\nthe country\u2019s dependency on imported drugs will soon become a thing of the past,\nsaid the Ministry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      **&<\/p>\n\n\n\n

       In 2017\nthe Health Ministry announced an exclusive agreement between the government and\nthe staff of the State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC) to grant a staggering\n55 per cent salary increase to the lowest paid employees and 41 per cent pay\nhike to their highest paid counterparts. This \nsalary increase had been granted due to an impressive profit of Rs 1,800\nearned by the SPC . it would be effective from July 1, 2017 to June 6, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Hospitals do\nnot have adequate drugs to treat cancer patients and are not sure when the\ndrugs will arrive critics said in January 2019. This is due to the delay in\nappointments to tender boards. That is turn is due to vetting process by the\ncommittees appointed by the President. The Boards cannot function until persons\nare formally appointments to tender boards. the Medical Supplies Division  of the Health Ministry and the State\nPharmaceuticals Corporation (SPC) responsible for supplying the required medicines\nconfirmed that delays in appointing tender boards and the release of payments\nto suppliers had adversely affected the supplies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

       The resulting delays in completing tender\nprocesses has  particularly affected the\npurchase of vital drugs for cancer patients.. medical authorities have been\nforced to defer treatment of cancer patients throughout the country. the\ncountry\u2019s main Cancer Hospital, \u2018Apeksha\u2019 in Maharagama  was forced to tell patients to come back\nlater for treatment or advise them to by the medicine from private pharmacies.\nHundreds of patients have already been turned away, reported the media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      in September\n2018,  Health Ministry officials said\nthat a crisis is looming in the health sector due to the Treasury not releasing\nmore than Rs 20 billion to settle bills for essential items, including\nmedicines,  it is the first time such a\nlarge amount has been outstanding. Of this, Rs 10 billion is owed to the Health\nMinistry. Another Rs 10 billion is due to the State Pharmaceuticals\nManufacturing Corporation (SPMC) which has not been paid up to five months for\nproduction of essential medicines. Arrears to the tune of Rs 450 million are\nowed to one supplier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The SPMC\ntakes out loans to manufacture close to 200 pharmaceuticals. When Treasury\nreimbursement is delayed, it is forced to reduce the quantity of drugs it\nproduces or cease manufacturing completely. This is because it costs money to\nimport the raw material required to make the medicines in Sri Lanka. All these\nmedicines are for Government hospitals,\u201d said the official. If the outstanding\namounts are not settled soon, manufacturers will refuse to provide medicines,\nplunging the free health service into crisis.\u201d. There is also no money to\nadvertise tenders, meaning those that are in the pipeline will be delayed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

       In 2017 Yahapalana government   purchased two clinically untested cancer\ndrugs  Trastuzumab and Bevazizumab, produced\nand imported from Russia. In 2016, 25 oncologists wrote to the Health Ministry\nadvising it not to import these two  drugs.   The drugs were of low quality and were not\nused even in Russia. Their price was higher than other drugs which have US Food\nand Drug Authority (FDA) approval. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The drug was\nhurriedly registered in the NMRA    and tenders called. There were no Oncologists\nin the technical committee which approved the tender. The tender was floated by the State\nPharmaceuticals Corporation of Sri Lanka (SPCSL). (Tender No. LP\/MSD\/CPU \u2013\nDHS\/RQ\/016\/018). The five\nshortlisted bidders submitted quotations for Rs. 64,700, Rs. 93,950, Rs.\n109,000, Rs. 135,900 and Rs. 190,000 per vial, respectively. The second highest\nbidder wasawarded thetender, despite a substantial price\ndifference of Rs. 39 million for the whole stock of 557 vials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The company which submitted the lowest bid wrote\nto the authorities, complaining about the unjust manner in which it was elbowed\nout and the tender awarded to the second highest bidder. The lowest bidder  said that he too was able to supply 100 vials\nex stock (with three vials free of charge) and the balance within 14 working\ndays on receipt of the confirmed order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      A second purchase  order was placed on October 3, 2017 with the\nlocal supplier for another 2,500 vials of Trastuzumab at a staggering cost of Rs.\n360,250,000, despite a competitor offering a time-tested, FDA approved product,\nat a competitive price. The move to purchase another 2,500 vials of a product\nwhich has generated much controversy is beyond belief, said critics. Somebody\nis making a big kill on the bid. Otherwise, why opt for a higher price when a\nbetter, time-tested drug is on offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      After the\nappointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister and Chamal Rajapaksa as\nHealth Minister,  in October 2018, the SPC\nhad ordered a better and cheaper drug, but when a court order preventing the\nPrime Minister and the Cabinet from functioning was made, the SPC  cancelled the order and again ordered the Russian\ndrug. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The SPC bought 557\nvials from this company at the second highest bid price of Rs. 135,900 each at\na total cost of more than Rs. 75 million. The lowest bidder had offered the\nstock for Rs. 36.37 million which meant that the government had spent an\nadditional Rs. 39 million.\nanalysts said this was done to prevent losses to the local importer of this\ndrug.  The importer was holding large\nstocks of this very expensive drug. It had known that the Ministry  will definitely purchase the drug from them. These\nthree purchases have resulted in a colossal loss of more than Rs.\n108 million to the country, said critics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      **&<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The\nCommission of Inquiry (CoI) appointed by the President to investigate and\ninquire into serious acts of fraud, corruption, and the abuse of power, state\nresources and privileges by the   present\nthe government,  issued summons on the\ncurrent and former chairmen of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority\n(NMRA).This was regarding the import of the Russian-made cancer drug Herticad\nby the State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC) for the Maharagama Cancer\nHospital.This drug is deemed to be of an inferior quality, and can only be used\non patients with stage two cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      SPC had\ndecided to import a drug that couldn\u2019t be used for all stages of the disease in\nspite of paying such a high price for it. Furthermore this drug lacked the\napproval of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the European Medcines\nAgency (EMA).Several Oncologists in the country had objected to the use of this\ndrug said the Attorney General\u2019s department .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Those summoned before the Commission stated\nthat Government hospitals do not have proper supplementary medicines that are\nused with chemotherapy for early stage breast cancer patients. Currently Sri\nLankan government hospitals only had the drug, Herticad and that it was not\nsuitable for treating early stage breast cancer patients. “Herticad is\ngood for treating patients with advance cancer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Herticad saw clinical practice in Russia,\nwhere the drug originates, only in March 2016. The NMRA had registered the drug\nin Sri Lanka in February 2016.The reasons given was that NMRA only registers drugs\nand the decision to import them or not is decided by a tender committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Herticad was introduced in 2016 by the\nMinistry of Health that insisted that the drug is a cheaper alternative to\nHerceptin. However oncologists have been critical of the drug stating that 80%\nof Sri Lankan breast cancer patients are detected at an early stage and that\nHerticad is not suitable for treating them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      the oncologists on the tender committee,\nobjected to Herticad stating that by allowing this drug, NMRA has failed to follow\nguidelines set by WHO and European Medicines Regulatory Authority. \u2018This product is not suitable to be used for\nadjunct use (during early stages of cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      A number of oncologists have written to the\nMinistry of Health about the dangers of Herticad. But the response from the\nMinistry has not been positive. Four oncologists had to face a disciplinary\ninquiry due to their objections to using Herticad. “The inquirer wasn\u2019t\neven a technical person. When oncologists had sent letters complaining about it\nto the Ministry it has responded by saying that this is the only drug available\nand that they better use it,” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      From the time Yahapalana government took\npower,  the GMOA has been actively opposing  the government  on economic issues such as ECTA. They  antagonized the government and the\ngovernment  retaliated . In November\n2016, the tyres of cars belonging to doctors has been deflated at the Ministry.\nDoctors\nat Kandy, Kurunegala and Matara had suspended work for four hours as protest.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      There were\nseveral disagreements between the doctors and the  Health Ministry. GMOA said government has cut\ndown vehicle permits, their children were not given good\nschools when transfers were made\nand did not grant schools to their children \nwhen they returned from abroad, Government said schools had been given. Doctors\nsaid , no. Not all children had  got\nschools. only     20 out of 138 children\nhad got schools. Doctors\nwere contemplating trade union action <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      doctors also complained of an inordinate delay in\nthe implementation of enhanced transport allowance as well as the amendments in\nrespect of duty free vehicle scheme. They\nobjected to the  way they were taxed in\nBudget 2017. they  staged a lunch hour protest demanding that\nthe government solve several issues of the Budget 2017. Western province\ndoctors would stop private practice\nfor a day, against the budget proposal to tax government employees  private practice.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Association of\nMedical Specialists said in June  2018 they would refrain from private practice  in protest over the new tax policy for doctors\nAll specialists doctors will strike\nif the\ndiscussion with the Finance Minister\nfails. Yahapalana gave in and said they would give\nthe disturbance, availability and transport allowance. and allowances will be\nincreased. Also\ndoctors  private practice will not be\nsubject to tax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      In 2017, the Ministry said that GMOA was\npreventing  the routine transfers. GMO said\nthat was nonsense. The GMOA has always participated in the transfer process for\nyears and it is only  in 2017 that GMOA has\nclashed like this with the Health ministry. The ministry has still not got the\ntransfer list ready,  they said. The list\nshould have been published in December last year and by now the doctors would\nhave been in their new stations.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      EDUCATION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The Ceylon\nTeachers Union (CTU) said in 2018 that though around 7,500 candidates qualified\nfor promotions, only 700 were promoted Principals. That is due to a circular issued by the Ministry of Education (MoE) in 2015,\nthat all teachers to be eligible for the Principal\u2019s post should have a Simple\nPass in Sinhala or Tamil at their Ordinary Level (O\/L) exam. A Sinhala medium\nteacher have a Pass in the Tamil Language, while a Tamil medium teacher have a\npass in the Sinhala Language.  Of those\neligible for promotion to the Principal grade, only 4% possess Language\nproficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      This has\nresulted in about 4,000 Grade 2 teachers and 3,500 Grade 3 teachers stagnating\nwithout their due promotions. Minister Mano Ganeshan  \ngranted a solution by diluting the clause, stating that teachers over 50\nyear of age, instead of the Pass at O\/L, could follow a 100-hours course in\nTamil\/Sinhala, to qualify for promotions. However, the\nMinistry has this concession and granted promotions only to those candidates\nwith Passes in Sinhala\/Tamil in their O\/Ls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The Ceylon\nTeachers Unions stated that teachers in class III and II unable to acquire\nproficiency    in Sinhala and Tamil are\nstagnating in their grades and unable to get promotion. According to   Public Administration circular 1\/2007 all\nofficers recruited to the public service and provincial PS  should acquire proficiency in the other\nofficial language within a period of 5 years of their recruitment. This\nincludes a pass in S or T at O level, and speech test. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      When the\nmatter came up in 2017, they granted concession to all teachers who had reached\nthe age of 50, they were allowed to follow 100 hours of Sinhala or Tamil course\nconducted by the Ministry of National Integration and Official languages.\nHowever government failed to extend this concession in 2018 and 2019 which\nresulted in several teachers retiring without achieving class I status, and\nhave gone on pension without this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The Ceylon\nTeachers Union (CTU) charged that the Education Ministry, which failed to\ndistribute free copies of the Teacher\u2019s Guide Book for the Year 4 syllabus, is\nnow selling the books to teachers. The syllabus for Year 4 had changed, and teachers\nwere inconvenienced as there was no guide. The Education Publications\nDepartment (EPD), which is responsible for distribution, was now selling the\nGuide at Rs545 a copy and teachers serving Year 4 classroom had to buy them.\nThe Teacher\u2019s Guide Book for Year 13 has also not been distributed for the last\nsix years. Stalin pointed out that the Advanced Level syllabus was changed in\n2012. The National Institute of Education was releasing the syllabus in\nsections to teachers via the internet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      In May 2019,\nCabinet of Ministers approved a proposal by the Minister of Education, to\npurchase 160,000 laptops to develop IT facilities in secondary schools across\nthe country. A previous attempt by the Minister to purchase Tab computers in\n2017 for AL students and teachers had created controversy. Presidential\nCommission investigating frauds under the Current Administration found that\nEducation Ministry officials had inflated the number of AL students and\nteachers eligible for Tab computers in 2017, in the first estimate officials\nstated that 113,340 students, 2820 principals and 5000 teachers were eligible\nto receive Tabs. These numbers were gathered from a census of schools conducted\nin 2016. A later estimate, three months after the first, stated that 159,786 students,\n2820 principals and 31,459 teachers were eligible to receive Tabs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Cabinet\napproval was obtained in January 2019 to appoint 3,850 Sports Instructors to\nschools island wide. salaries are to be paid by the Central Government, a\ntraining programme was to be arranged for those selected, and the chosen would\nbe individuals who had proved their sports abilities at provincial or national\nlevels. 850 individuals were already selected and awaiting appointments said\nYahapalana. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Ceylon\nTeachers Services Union is opposing this. <\/em> When there are vacancies for some 4,000 Sports\nTeachers, why is the government trying to introduce Sports Instructors instead,\nasked the teachers. The Ministry was trying to provide employment to party\nloyalists. Due to this, persons who had no sports qualifications had been\nselected.\n<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Ceylon\nTeachers Services Union is also opposing the government\u2019s decision to recruit\nSports Instructors to government schools in violation of the Teacher Service\nMinutes. TSM requires candidates appointed to the teaching post have sports\nqualifications in one of five National Colleges of Education (NCOE). Sports\nInstructors can be selected from NCOE graduates and the Sabaragamuwa\nUniversity. The NCOE at Vavuniya and Batticaloa conducts Diploma courses for\nSports Instructors in Tamil, and Bandarawela, Ruwanpura and Milwela NCOE conduct\nDiploma courses in Sinhala. The Sabaragamuwa University conducts degree\nprogrammes in Sports Training. Instead, there were moves to recruit persons\nwith GCE Ordinary Level qualifications with a sports background.  Further these instructors are not teachers\nand have no responsibility towards students.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The Ceylon\nTeachers Union (CTU) claims politicians are changing the name boards of schools\nin the Western Province to include their own names, in alleged gratitude for\nthe work they do for the schools. It is claimed Madiwela Sri Rahula Vidyalaya\nhas been renamed Isuru Maha Vidyalaya after Western Province Chief Minister\nIsuru Devapriya. In a similar move, Provincial Council Chairman Sunil Wijeratne\nhas proposed that Bulugahagoda Maha Vidyalaya in the Gampaha district change\nits name to Sunil Wijeratne Maha Vidyalaya. Another school, Kiridiwela\nSangamitha Balika Vidyalaya, also in the Gampaha district, has a three-storey\nbuilding named after Provincial Council member Upali Wijeratne. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Chief\nMinister Devapriya told the Sunday Times <\/em>he had no\nhand in the change of name of Madiwela Sri Rahula Vidyalaya to Isuru Maha\nVidyalaya and that it was the parents of the school\u2019s pupils who had decided on\nthe move. He said this had been done as a token of appreciation for the work he\nhad done for the school. The school was in a bad state, almost on the verge of\nclosure, and I took it upon me to reconstruct and rejuvenate it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      .Meanwhile,\nhe noted, this issue was nothing new as a playground in Mirihana had been named\nIsuru Devapriya Sports Pavilion. Western Province Education Minister Ranjith\nSomawansa said protocol should be followed in changing names of schools. There\nwas no provision to change the name boards and if at all there were to be a\nchange a school could not be named after a living person, he said. (Sunday\nTimes 7.4.19 p 11). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The\nPresidential Commission of Inquiry to investigate Corruption of the current Administration\nwas informed that there was a misuse of Rs. 2,430 million due to the re-insuring\nthe funds allocated for the \u2018Suraksha\u2019 insurance policy for schoolchildren with\na reinsurance company in India. Reinsurance is the practice whereby insurers\ntransfer portions of their risk portfolios to other parties by some form of\nagreement to reduce the likelihood of paying a large obligation resulting from\nan insurance claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

       The Ministry spends approximately Rs. 285\nmillion per year on the insurance cover for all students in the country.\nHowever, the Ministry obtains public funds amounting to around Rs. 2,700\nmillion for the insurance scheme said   an\nofficer giving evidence before the Commission.\nHe said he was employed at the Health and Nutrition Division of the\nEducation Ministry and the insurance scheme was handled by that\ndivision.”We had several discussions with Director of Health and Nutrition\nDivision and Chairman of Suraksha Committee. We pointed out that there was no\nneed to re-insure this with an Indian company. We were told that they were\nworking according to the Minister\u2019s orders. Wijeyadasa\nRajapakshe when he was Education Minister had submitted a Cabinet paper to\nestablish a fund at the Education Ministry that can re-insure the \u2018Suraksha\u2019\ninsurance scheme. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      **&
      \nThe\nMinistry of Education had made seven appointments to top positions without\nfollowing proper procedure,\nThey\nhave got covering approval for these appointments from the Education Services\nCommittee of the Public Services Commission, said the Ceylon Teachers Union\n.These seven positions are Additional Secretary \u2013 Establishments, Chief\nCommissioner of Colleges of Education, Education Director \u2013 Technology, Education\nDirector \u2013 Research, Education Director \u2013 Human Resources, Education Director \u2013\nTeacher Training Schools and Education Director – Extra Curricular Activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      However,   nine\nother top positions have been vacant\nin the Education Ministry for an extended period of time and that had caused a\nserious crisis in the education sector. The vacant positions are Director of\nSports and Physical Education, Director \u2013 Primary Education, Director \u2013 Private\nSchools, Director \u2013 Science, Director \u2013 Aesthetic Studies, Director \u2013 Estate\nSchools, Director \u2013 Languages and Humanities, Director \u2013 Teacher Transfers and\nDirector \u2013 Informal Education.”\nthese are vital positions and due to this\n lapse these sectors not functioning\nproperly,” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      these positions have been left vacant to be\nfilled with those who say they have been politically victimized, said the\nCeylon Teachers Union. The Yahapalana government has been turning the education\nsector into a job bank for UNPers.\nThe\ngovernment has attempted to fill important positions in the Ministry with UNP\nhenchmen who claim that they have been politically victimized. “About two\nweeks ago they appointed 3,850 sports instructors. They are also appointing a\nlarge number of watchers. Last week the Ministry of Education has sent a list\nof 217 \u2018political victims\u2019 to the Public Service Commission seeking permission\nto give them appointments. Last year the government tried to promote over 1,000\nUNP supporters who claimed to have\nbeen politically victimized, the Teachers Union complained in May 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ***
      \nOne\nof the main issues in the education sector was that there were 302 acting\nprincipals in national schools. “These appointments were made for the most\npart by old boys\/girls associations and\/or regional politicians to exercise\ncontrol over institutions by having persons dependent on them for survival\nappointed as acting school heads. In 2012, there were 96 vacancies for\nprinciples in National Schools. That number has risen to 302 in2019. In 2017, there\nwas an attempt to select principals but because the process was so corrupt, the\nPublic Services Commission (PSC) canceled the recruitments and asked the\nMinistry to stick to rules and regulations. Nothing has been done so far. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Ceylon Teachers Union complained in June 2019 that the\nMinistry of Education was planning to appoint registrars to all schools with\nover 1,000 students at a time when there were vacancies for principals in 302\nout of 353 national schools. There were 984 schools with over 1,000 students\nand depending on the number of students in a school, the grades of the\nRegistrars would be determined. schools with over 4,500 students will get\nSenior Registrars. The work that is to be assigned to the registrars is\ncurrently done by vice principals.\nSo, essentially, the Ministry is creating positions in 984 schools to give jobs\nto UNP henchmen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The teachers summarized the various grievances, in a statement to the media in June 2019. “The government has been turning education sector into a job bank for UNPers. Such attempts have been ramped up in recent months as national elections were fast approaching. In mid May, the government appointed 3,850 sports instructors, the CTU said.”They are also appointing a large number of watchers. Last week, the Ministry of Education has sent a list of 217 \u2018political victims\u2019 to the Public Service Commission seeking permission to employ them. Last year, the government tried to promote over 1,000 UNP supporters who claimed to have been politically victimized. The government has left nine top positions vacant in the Education Ministry for an extended period and that has caused a serious crisis in the education sector and made seven appointments to top positions without following proper procedure. These actions are creating a lot of issues, they said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      KAMALIKA  PIERIS Revised 20.6.19 HEALTH We start with Sunshine stories\u201d. Here they are: European standard hospitals will be established in Hambantota, Panadura, Dambulla, Matale and Embilipitiya with German, Netherlands and French aid. New accident wards are to be established in 24 General Hospitals and Teaching Hospitals located island wide.  A total of 48 blood transfusion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87282\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}