Island-wide strike by GMOA begins

The Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA) has launched a continuous island-wide strike with effect from 8.00am today (21). 

The GMOA's trade union action has been launched over seven key demands that it wants the Government to meet. 

Emergency and Accident services at hospitals island-wide will remain unaffected by the strike, the GMOA stressed. The strike will also not affect COVID treatment and vaccination efforts, the union added. 

The Central Committee of the GMOA has also decided that the strike will not affect activities at the Lady Ridgeway Children's Hospital, Castle Street Women's Hospital, De Zoysa Women's Hospital, the National Cancer Institute and clinics conducted for kidney patients. 

Yesterday (20), the GMOA also launched a 24-hour island-wide token strike at all hospitals and medical institutions across five districts from 8.00am. The strike severely impacted hospitals and medical institutions in the Mannar, Trincomalee, Ratnapura, Nuwara-Eliya and Polonnaruwa districts. 

(Pix by Indika Handuwala & Kanchana Ariyadasa)

Colombo National Hospital

Denzil Kobbakaduwa District Base Hospital, Dambulla