(COLOMBO) – The crisis in Sri Lanka’s hospitals deepened on Wednesday after thousands of nurses joined a strike launched by minor workers since the start of this week.
The strike was called by the Government Nursing Officers’ Association (GNOA) that had earlier decided to stay out of the trade union action that started on Monday.
The nursing officers decided to resort to a one-day token strike as discussions with the Health Minister and the State Minister for Finance were unfruitful, Sudath Jayasiri a spokesman for the GNOA said.
Meanwhile, several other health trade unions that engaged in a token strike on Tuesday (Jan.16) have temporarily called off their trade union action at 6:30 a.m. this morning on a staggered basis.
President of the Paramedical Services Front (PMSF) Upul Rohana, however, has vowed to resume the trade union action if the authorities fail to address their problems within a week’s time.
He said around 100,000 health workers including all paramedical services, hospital secretaries, administrative officers as well as health administrative assistants, minor staff and 75 other trade unions of the health staff would join this island-wide strike.
The strikers are demanding a Rs, 35,000 pay hike that was provided to doctors earlier this month, a demand the authorities cannot reason out with.
