NE doctors strike over pay discrimination

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 August 2002, 12:58 GMT]
More than three hundred resident medical officers working in the Northeast government hospitals and dispensaries, Tuesday, went on a strike, demanding that they also should be paid special mission allowance now being paid for non-resident doctors from other provinces.

Resident doctors serving in Jaffna, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Kantalai, Muttur, Kinniya, Batticaloa, Kalmunai and Ampara areas did not report for work Tuesday as a protest against the discrimination shown by the line ministry of health in paying special mission allowance.

The non-resident doctors working in the Northeast province are paid special mission allowance for a period one-year. An amount equal to their monthly basic salary is paid as special mission allowance. The special mission allowance is paid to non-resident doctors serving in the northeast as an inducement for taking risk in performing their duties in the northeast medical institutions.

" We also take the same risk in performing our duties working side by side with the non-resident doctors. Are we not qualified for the same treatment extended to doctors who come to northeast from other provinces," asked a representative of the Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA).

" The GMOA branches in the northeast will meet shortly to take a decision whether to launch a continuous strike till the demand is met," said GMOA representative Tuesday evening.