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Doctors fault ad hoc salary revisions
The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) points out that the root cause for the existing salary anomalies is the failure to take a methodical approach in making salary recommendations leading to countless crippling health sector strikes at various levels in the past.

At present, the salary structure of the government health sector places certain mid-level categories above those of medical officers and interestingly these revisions actually exceed the limits set by the Establishment Code.

The recent chain of trade union action is seen as the result of a circular in 2002 increasing the salaries of Assistant Medical Practitioners above those of Grade II Medical Officers, based on the recommendations made by a committee headed by Dr. Nihal Jayathilake.

Historically, Medical Officers' salaries have been at the apex of the salary structure in the government health sector as well as in the public service. Due to the system in place in the medical service, the presence of the Medical Officer is required at all times of the day from the first contact leading up to the discharge of the patient, including every intervention and change in the management plan. The Medical Officer's responsibility cannot be subordinated to any other.

These factors along with several others have caused the GMOA to question whether any justifiable reason exists for the degrading of Medical Officers' salary scales and for the appreciation of salaries in the middle level categories over and above them.

The Class Categorization done by the Salaries Commission has been accepted in principle by the GMOA, which says it would be practical if maximum and minimum levels of salary revisions are set for each class.

However, GMOA secretary, Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya says the revision of salaries should be done according to international and local criteria and not based on various representations that are made to salary commissions by assorted trade unions, which has led to the absence of an objective job analysis in revising salaries.

The GMOA suggests a format in which educational qualifications, training, responsibilities, accountability, know-how (expertise), workload, earning capacity and authority are looked into.

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