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While the economic crisis taxes the governance skills of the Government to the optimum, no less challenging is the collateral damage caused to the economy in multiple fields.

The diverse strategies adopted by the Government to resolve different strands of the economic crisis will necessarily have to take into account the need to sustain the various services that the Government is called upon to deliver to the people.  

One of the areas that the country is highly dependant on for generating the much needed foreign exchange is the remittances from Sri Lankan expatriates working abroad. Total annual remittances from migrant workers has on an average ranged from 6 to 7 billion dollars over the years. In 2018, the country received over 7 billion dollars in remittances which approximated to 8% of the country’s GDP.

During the three decades of the armed conflict, the country’s military bill was footed almost entirely by the remittances of migrant workers. Today the country is looking at this segment of Sri Lankans to help ease the burden of a different war on the economic front.

Towards this end the Government has put in place a number of schemes aimed at increasing funding from remittances. One such scheme envisages granting no pay leave to public servants who find employment abroad.

Another method is to permit younger female migrant workers to go abroad by reducing the age limit that had been imposed on such workers in the past.

The Government is also actively searching for new job markets and employment opportunities in different sectors including nursing.

Recent reports indicate that many Sri Lankans do not need much encouragement to migrate for employment abroad. Some Sri Lankans are even contemplating permanent migration. While it is difficult to estimate the exact number of migrants, preliminary data suggests the scale of the exodus was serious enough to warrant concern.

Thus the exodus by many of the country’s most skilled professionals might bring the country much needed foreign exchange but at the same time cause grave disruptions in the services that the people obtain from such professionals.

The magnitude of the problem may be realised from some of the data that is available. The first six months of 2020 and 2021 recorded 40,581 and 30,797 departures respectively, but the first six months of 2022 had registered about 113,140 departures one source confirmed.

Unprecedented queues to obtain new passports outside the Dpartment of Immigration and Emigration is another pointer to the number of persons searching for opportunities abroad.

According to available data in the first five months of 2022, Sri Lanka has issued 288,645 passports compared with 91,331 in the same period last year.

In the meantime while the government rolled out a programme in June to encourage public servants to work abroad on unpaid leave for five years, the private sector is struggling to halt the exodus from within its ranks.

One researcher has pointed out that unplanned and excessive outflow of skilled workers could have a negative impact on Sri Lanka’s economic recovery efforts as well.

Last week the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) raised alarm bells about the impact of migration of doctors on the Public Health system in the country.

According to the GMOA nearly 500 doctors had migrated from January to August 2022 due to the continuing economic- crisis.

GMOA Secretary Dr. Haritha Aluthge has warned that the trend would continue unless the government took tangible measures to arrest the situation.

According to Dr. Aluthge the recent decision to retire all public servants at the age of 60 would worsen the situation further. If the government went ahead with the move at the end of this year, the public health system would lose about 800 doctors including about 300 specialists.

He has pointed out that services at government hospitals at Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi and Tissamaharama were already on the verge of collapse, It is to be noted that these are some of the poorest districts in the country and any crippling of health services in such areas will further impact adversely on the poor and marginalised.

Dr. Alutge also warned that provincial hospitals faced closure as a result of the phenomenon of doctors leaving the service. He called upon the government to take immediate action to remedy the situation.

When the encouragement for nursing staff to go abroad for work is added to the GMOA’s warnings the prospects for the services delivered by the health sector is not promising.

Two of the proud claims of the country are the education and health sectors which have very high rankings among the countries in the regions. It was the strength of the public health sector that helped the country to withstand the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The need therefore is to ensure that despite the economic crisis and the search for scarce dollars the health sector must be safeguarded at all costs.

The issue of female migrant workers has always been a contentious issue due to the high social cost due to the impact on children and the family unit. When the permitted age for female migration is reduced the social impact could be worse.

For the government it is a tough call. While trying to increase foreign remittances through increased migration it has to be mindful of the collateral damage that can ensue. (javidyusuf@gmail.com)