100,000 health workers on five-hour strike this morning

The Health Service Trade Union Collective would launch a five-hour strike from 7.00 am today at all state-run hospitals as the government had failed to address their grievances, Government Nursing Officers Association (GNOA) President Saman Rathnapriya said.

Rathnapriya claimed that over 100,000 health employees would take part in the strike. He said the government started paying them Rs. 7,500 a month as a monthly COVID relief allowance.

“For some reason the government has stopped making this payment from 30 August. The threat from COVID persists. A lot of healthcare workers have contracted the virus and many have died” he said. (RK)