By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO, Dec 8 1999 (IPS)

A six-month-long protest campaign by Sri Lankan medical students finally achieved results last week with the government promising to absorb all new doctors from state universities for the next 10 years.

Students led by the Colombo Medical Faculty Union had been protesting against a government decision in July to freeze fresh recruitment in the public health system because of budgetary constraints.

“We are happy that the government has said it will provide government jobs for medical graduates but we also hope the minister is sincere in his announcement and will keep his word,” Ousha de Silva, the Union spokesman said.

The announcement was made Dec. 2 at a news conference by Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, and appeared to have been taken, like some other recent decisions, with an eye on the upcoming presidential election here on Dec. 21.

The Chandrika Kumaratunga government has recently offered to increase the salaries of teachers and other government employees, raised pensions of retired state employees, given extra allowances to postal officials, created permanent jobs for graduate trainee teachers and rescheduled bank loans of farmers.

Where the money will come from is anybody’s guess. “Is this an election stunt? I don’t know and hope not,” said the Medical Faculty Union spokesman.

Kumaratunga, the serving president, is running for a second term in office in a closely-fought election. Her main rival is Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), who is among 13 candidates in the fray.

To political observers the government appears to have pulled out all stops to ensure a win for the president by appeasing all the disaffected sections.

“Why this hurry I wonder?” asks the Union spokesman.

Some 800 students graduating from Sri Lanka’s six state-run medical colleges have been assured permanent jobs in government hospitals by the health minister.

In addition a total of a 100 foreign qualified doctors would be given state employment annually — the government has said.

“Accordingly there won’t be a shortage of doctors up to the year 2010 and medical students should not entertain any doubts about their job prospects,” the minister said.

According to the minister, the decisions were taken on the recommendations of a committee appointed by President Kumaratunga to look into the grievances of the striking medical students.

De Silva said the government would now spend an additional 78 million rupees (1.09 million dollars) a year to provide employment to medical interns and implement other recommendations of the committee.

But on July 14 this year health authorities in Colombo told a batch of students completing their internships that the government was unable to provide them with appointments in state hospitals.

They were told to leave or remain as interns without appointments.

For the first time graduates from Sri Lanka’s government-run medical colleges were left to fend for themselves. Until this summer they had always done their one-year internship in state hospitals, and later found permanent jobs there.

As medical students rose up in protest, Health Minister de Silva confirmed the government’s inability to recruit new interns or make new appointments.

Health Ministry officials, who were interviewed but declined to be identified, said the government had to stop recruiting because of cuts in the budget for expansion of hospitals and the creation of extra beds by the Treasury.

The Treasury has been forced to fund the government’s war efforts, which have been intensified this year. The war costs Sri Lanka more than 50 billion rupees (705,000 dollars) a year, but often the Treasury has to release additional funds for new equipment or manpower which is urgently required.

On Nov. 18 the committee appointed by President Kumaratunga

submitted its report to the health minister, but no action was taken until last week.

The committee, which included senior officials of the Health Ministry and other ministries, recommended raising the doctor- population ratio in Sri Lanka from the present 0.25 per 1,000 persons, as estimated in a recent World Bank study.

Sri Lanka’s health budget as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) has also been low at 1.9 percent in 1995 compared to 5.6 percent in India, 5.0 percent in Nepal and 2.4 percent in Bangladesh, the same study showed.

Until 1983 when the civil war erupted in the north and west, Sri Lanka had been held up as a model for development for developing countries.

Within three decades of its independence from British colonialists in 1947, this island nation had raised its literacy, health, and other social indicators.

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