Ministers attempt to resolve strike

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 February 1999, 20:50 GMT]
The Minister for Health, Nimal Sripala de Silva and the Minister for Rural and Industrial Development, S.Thondaman, are to meet on Monday (22.02.1999) to find a settlement to the four-day old strike by medical officers and health workers at some hospitals in the central province, said sources.

On Wednesday, a politician along with an armed group had allegedly assaulted an employee at the Dickoya hospital, resulting in several hospital staff staging a strike. Following this incident, medical officers and hospital workers demanded that the police should take action against that politician.

As the strike enters its fifth day, the strikers have given an ultimatum to the authorities saying that unless the police take action against that politician before Monday, medical staff of the Kandy and Peradeniya hospitals would also join the strike.

The strike, that started in Nuwara Eliya district on Thursday, has now spread to Matale, Nawalapitiya and Gampola.