Presidential aide accuses trade unions of exaggerating brain drain

Presidential Director General (Community Affairs), Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon yesterday said several unions had exaggerated the number of professionals leaving the country.

Tennakoon said the number of medical officers who had obtained no-pay leave according to the Public Administration Circular No. 14/2022, or had not returned to work after obtaining no-pay leave or been released from the Ministry of Health, since 2021 stood at 289.

“This is the actual number of all medical specialists who received leave in the last three years. But the GMOA claims that over 270 specialists have left the country in a single year,” Tennakoon said.

Dr. Chamil Wijesinghe, the Spokesperson of the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) said 842 Grade Medical Officers (Senior Medical Officers) had resigned and migrated during the past 12 months.

Tennakoon said: “This is also a falsehood. The actual number of medical officers who have left the service since 2021 2023 is 437. The number of medical officers who have tendered resignation is 149. Meanwhile, 934 have received foreign leave with no pay under the procedure mentioned in the Establishment Code and Public Administration Circular No. 14/2022.”

Tennakoon said 21 Dental Surgeons had left the service during the past three years. The number of resignations is 12. Another 39 Dental Surgeons had migrated after obtaining no-pay leave.

“The approved cadre of Nursing Officers is 45,367, out of which 42,253 are in service. During the period from 2021 to 31 August 2023, 557 Nursing Officers vacated their post; five have resigned. About 434 Nursing Officers have obtained no-pay leave under a formal procedure for foreign employment,” he said.

Tennakoon added that 2,574 Specialist Medical Officers (90.3 percent of the approved cadre of 2,851) were currently in service. He said about 20,907 of Medical Officers (92.8 percent of the approved cadres of 22,535) were in service, and 1,585 Dental Surgeons ((89.6 percent of the cadre of 1,769) were in the country. About 10 percent of vacancies had not been filled in the Health Sector, Tennakoon said.

“The highest number of vacancies in the health sector exists in Allied Health Services. There should be 1,103 Radiologists, but there are only 694 (62.9 percent of the cadre). There should be 58 Audiologists, but only 35 (60 percent of the cadre) are in service. There should be 2,306 Pharmacists, but there are (87.7 percent of the cadre of 2,022)).

Tennakoon said after the 1971 insurrection, 37 percent, 36 percent and 45 percent of the Medical Graduates produced in Sri Lanka in 1972, 1973 and 1974, respectively, migrated to the UK. In 1971, 75 out of 165 Engineers produced in Sri Lanka migrated to the UK.

“There is no such trend in migration of Medical Officers today. From 1980 and 2009, 11 percent of the Specialist Medical Officers produced in Sri Lanka migrated.