Doctors take up crucial issues with President
By Shamindra Ferdinando-December 21, 2015, 12:00 pm
The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) yesterday alleged that the ten-thousand-rupee public sector salary increase was in contravention of the long standing 1:4 ‘salary compression ratio’.
GMOA Secretary Dr. Nalinda Herath yesterday said the contravention of ‘salary compression ratio’ had been one of the four major contentious issues caused by the recently passed budget.
In a brief interview with The Island, Dr. Herath said that the problems faced by the medical profession had been placed in three categories, namely issues caused by Budget 2016 proposals, recognition of the South Asian Institute of technology and Medicine (SAITM) at Malabe and the proposed Indo-Lanka Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA).
In addition to the contravention of the ‘salary compression ratio,’ the budget had also proposed a revision of the state sector pension scheme, doing away with existing duty concessions for acquiring vehicles and depriving doctors of current tax concessions pertaining to extra duty claims as well as DAT (Disturbance, Availability and Transport) allowance.
Welcoming the government’s promise to add the Rs. 10,000 allowance to the basic salaries of public sector workers in stages, Dr. Herath pointed out that as a result the 1:4 ‘salary compression ratio’ would be affected. Asked to explain, Dr. Herath said that was the difference between the basic salaries
received by the lowest and the highest paid state sector workers had been Rs 11,700 and 47,400, respectively.
According to him, the SLFP-led UPFA towards the tail end of its administration recommended the widening of the ‘salary compression ratio’ to 1:425. In fact, there had been a plan to make it 1:6 at the time of the retirement though the new government seemed to be intent on reversing the original plan, the top GMOA official said.
Responding to a query, Dr. Herath said that India maintained a 1:6 ratio.
Dr. Herath said that the move to abolish the current pension scheme would cause a debilitating setback to the medical profession. The GMOA official stressed that doctors remained in government service primarily to secure pension. According to him, the government hadn’t explained so far the proposed mechanism to replace the existing scheme. "We are seriously worried about the situation," Dr. Herath said, adding that the move could trigger brain-drain.
The third problem faced by the GMOA was the denial of tax concessions in respect of importing vehicles, Dr. Herath said. He said that depending on the capacity of the vehicle imported, doctors paid taxes, in some instances 100 per cent tariff, though it was very much lower than payments made by others. "We are grateful for that," Dr. Herath said, pointing out the tax concessions were given in lieu of official transport facilities provided to senior level public officials. "Senior level officials are entitled to chauffeur driven vehicles. Although, doctors, too, fall into that category, the state cannot afford to provide the facility due to the large number and hence the decision to provide tax concessions for us to procure vehicles."
Dr. Herath strongly condemned the move to tax them in respect of extra duty allowance as well as DAT allowance in accordance with latest budget proposals.
Doctors are entitled to four hours of extra duty a day depending on the requirement. After periodic revisions, the DAT allowance stands at Rs. 35,000.
Commenting on the SAITM issue, Dr. Herath said that the GMOA had an opportunity last Friday to brief President Maithripala Sirisena on the danger posed by the private institution. The GMOA official alleged that SAITM was operating contrary even to President Maithripala Sirisena’s stand as the then Health Minister. Dr. Herath claimed that the SAITM was seeking to consolidate its position at the expense of the medical profession. The government had declared that it would establish institutes authorised to offer degrees except for medical profession, he said. Alleging that an attempt was being made to promote SAITM, the GMOA urged President Maithripala Sirisena to take over that institution.
Dr. Herath admitted that President Maithripala Sirisena hadn’t commented on the GMOA’s takeover call. The GMOA official warned that extremist elements could exploit the situation to their advantage. Dr. Herath recalled the protests launched against Ragama private medical facility years ago.
"The GMOA is contemplating a one million signature petition against SAITM," he said.
The proposed ECTA would be nothing but a disaster and every effort should be made to block it, Dr. Herath said. Comparing the ETCA with CEPA (Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement), the GMOA spokesperson said that ETCA would pave the way for Indians to gain employment here. Although, the government had assured that ETCA would be restricted to IT sector and highly skilled workers for Colombo Dockyard, it would open the floodgates, Dr. herath said.
He said that the new government appeared to have conveniently forgotten the consequences of the hedging deal allowed by the previous Rajapaksa administration. The hedging deal had caused irrevocable losses to the national economy due to the political leadership acting at the behest of various interested parties whose primary interest was personal gain.
Responding to another query, Dr. Herath said that the CID had recently initiated an inquiry into the publication of a booklet by the GMOA in 2012 to highlight the entry of Indian doctors into private hospitals here.
