GMOA threatens to pull out of technical committee over failure to have GPS app to track virus

By Rathindra Kuruwita

The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) announced yesterday that it would withdraw from the Health Ministry’s technical committee on COVID-19 if officials failed to finalise the GPS mapping of COVID-19 patients by the end of the week.

GMOA Editor Dr. Haritha Aluthge told The Island that they had been urging the health ministry to map all COVID-19 patients. The map would help authorities to take better decisions.

“If we can get this on a map with GPS technology, we can easily decide what areas should be quarantined, what the danger areas are. Without such a map we can’t take any scientific decision.”

The GMOA Editor added that there was such a map in the western province, which should be extended to cover the entire country.

“It’s true that the Western Province is the most affected but this map should cover the entire country. We have informed the Health Ministry that the map should be finalised by the end of the week. If not, we will withdraw from the Health Ministry’s technical committee on COVID19.”

Dr. Aluthge added that almost all stakeholders had agreed on the importance of the map.