It’s eyeball to eyeball at Eye Hospital

~ Angry doctors demand minister’s remarks withdrawn

By N. Dilshath Banu

Doctors at the Eye Hospital want Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva to withdraw his statement saying doctors of the Eye Hospital are a mafia and are corrupt.

“The minister said that we are a mafia, we are taking bribes from patients and we are doing unnecessary overtime work. We are making representations calling on the minister to withdraw his comments” a Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) Eye Hospital branch spokesperson told The Sunday Times.

He said the GMOA parent body was to be informed to take this matter up with the minister and get him to withdraw his statement.

The minister’s comments came in the wake of continuous protest from the Eye Hospital minor staff due to a problem with the hospital administration. While the protest was in progress, the minister had entered the Eye Hospital auditorium and reportedly started to rebuke the doctors.

“We are writing a letter to our parent body to seek withdrawal by the minister of the allegation against us, with related information on the problems we are facing with the Director. Copies of the letter will be sent to the Sri Lanka Medical Council, Sri Lanka Medical Association and President Mahinda Rajapaksa as well,” the spokesperson said.

However, Health Ministry Secretary Dr. Athula Kahadaliyanage denied allegations that Minister de Silva accused the doctors of corruption.

“While the strike was going on, the minister went to the Eye Hospital to solve the problem and he openly discussed the issue following complaints made by the minor staff”, he said.

Dr. Kahadaliyanage said an inquiry is in progress about the functions of the hospital and allegations by the minor staff.

The problem in the administration of the Eye Hospital sparked off after Dr. S. Loganathan assumed duties as a Director a year ago. She had taken steps to reduce overtime with strict administrative rules being imposed. As a result the minor employees started to protest demanding her removal.

As an interim solution, the Health Ministry had taken over the administration of the Eye Hospital with the Deputy Director of Health Services, Dr. P.G Mahipala overseeing the duties of the hospital from last Friday.

“Currently, the hospital is functioning normally and patients are being treated. At the same time, inquiries are being carried out about the allegations. Further steps will be taken after the inquiry is over” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr. S.Loganathan said that she tried to take corrective measures and had run into problems.

“There is lack of good governance in the hospital. I found that certain minor staff and some doctors are claiming overtime, but do not work at those times. As a director, I need to take necessary measures and took steps not to authorise overtime where duties were not performed. As a result of trying to correct the mistakes, I have been found fault with,” she said.

Dr. Loganathan added that if steps are taken to remove her from the post, she would take the matter to the courts with necessary proof.