The inefficiency of the authorities in charge of the dental sector have put dental medical officers in a difficult situation during the pandemic period, President of the Government Dental Surgeons Association, Dr. Ananda Rathnayake told the media last week.
Dr. Rathnayake said Medical Officers (Dental) who completed their internship in March this year, are yet to receive their salaries. He said these officers worked 24/7 at hospital wards during the curfew period, without even a proper allowance, taking care of patients amidst many sacrifices but they had not been paid a fixed salary.
“Recruitment, organising training programs and handling of transfers are clearly being neglected,” he said.
“The normal procedure is to pay the new medical officers an allowance equal to their due salary till they receive the appointment. But for the first time in history, based on instructions of the Deputy Director-General of Health Services (Dental Services), a circular has come into effect to stop the allowance paid to post internship trainees. There are about 1,200 trainees who face grave injustice due to this decision,” Dr. Rathnayake said. They had informed the Deputy Director-General of Health Services (Dental Services) about the matter but there has not been a positive response so far.
“Minister of Health Pavithra Wanniarachchi, the former and present Secretaries to the Ministry and Director General of Health Services Dr. Anil Jasinghe, all of them looked into this matter and gave instructions to follow the earlier procedure. But there has been no development by the office of Deputy Director-General of Health Services (Dental Services),” Dr. Rathnayake said.
Secretary of the Government Dental Surgeons Association, Dr. Vipula Wickramasinghe alleged that the inefficiency of the office of Deputy Director-General and acting Directress has created numerous issues other than the payment structure.
“For instance, these two officers have failed to issue the transfer list for nine months,” Dr. Wickramasinghe said.