SLMC and PUCSL

The government has not done itself or the people it is expected to serve any credit by its recent sacking of five respected professionals from the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) and the hasty and ill-thought decision to abolish the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL). SLMC Chairman, Prof. Harendra de Silva, went public with his intention of challenging the legal validity of his sacking and we report today that he has already filed action in the Court of Appeal. The other four ‘victims’ of what is widely believed to be high-handed act of Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi will most likely do the same. The decision of the court is eagerly awaited by both the medical profession which is regulated by the Council and the general public. The Dean of the Colombo Medical Faculty has been named the Chairman of the SLMC in place of Prof. de Silva but the Health Minister, statutorily empowered to name five members to the SLMC, has not yet filled the other vacancies.

Respected professionals like Prof. Lalitha Mendis and Prof. Colvin Gunaratne, both of whom chaired the SLMC in the past, have condemned the sackings allegedly done at the behest of the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA). Prof. Mendis did not name the GMOA in a letter she wrote to the press, restricting herself to mentioning “a prominent trade union.” She revealed that there had been some recent complaints against the SLMC by this union and the minister had appointed a five-member committee to probe them. Three of the members of this committee “were directly linked to this trade union,” she said. It is supposed that the sacking was on the basis of the committee report which is not yet in the public domain. This so-called inquiry committee was a fact finding body and the persons investigated had not been given a chance to defend themselves, Prof. Mendis added.

Although the GMOA was not named the ‘nigger in the woodpile’ (if we may be permitted to use an expression that is no longer politic), it chose to wear the hat with a brief but delayed statement issued on Thursday reiterating its support for the minister’s action. It claimed that it came to know what was really going on in the SLMC since four of its office bearers (leaders) were elected to that body. One of these have since resigned citing personal reasons. If something wrong was happening in the SLMC, it stands to reason that the whole body, rather than the five members nominated by former Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne, should have been found culpable. The GMOA did not hide its political allegiance in the run-up to the last election. Its animosity towards the previous minister, and vice versa, was no secret. But that does not mean that Senaratne’s nominees to the SLMC should be summarily dismissed. This had not happened with previous changes of ministers. Those appointed served out their terms and were replaced by the new minister’s nominees.

Most government doctors, comprising the vast majority of practicing members of the medical profession in Sri Lanka, belong to the GMOA. Thus it is not surprising that GMOA leaders running for election to the SLMC are elected. But once there, they should well know that their allegiance should be to the Council required and empowered to regulate the medical profession, maintain standards, enforce discipline etc., rather than to the union they belong to. There have been conflicts in the past between the SLMC and the GMOA on matters relating to the registration of foreign medical graduates among others. The GMOA does not favour the registration of doctors educated abroad, even though they have graduated from SLMC-recognized foreign universities, unless they also hold pre-entry qualifications required to enter medical school here. There was a case last year where a graduate of the Odessa National Medical University in the Ukraine went to court challenging SLMC refusal to permit her to sit for the Examination for the Registration to Practice Medicine (ERPM) on a matter related to her ‘A’ level performance. In this case, the Supreme Court ordered the SLMC to register foreign medical graduates from universities recognized by it who have passed the required SLMC examinations.

To get to the other subject addressed by this comment, it seems that the government is revisiting its sudden decision to dismantle the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL). This is all to the good. The PUCSL is concerned among other matters on protecting consumer interests in areas such as electricity, water and petroleum that are state monopolies. Recently Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, the Secretary to the President, wrote to to the Secretary to the Treasury directing him to take measures to close PUCSL. This was attributed to the need for creating an “efficient work environment” for implementing a lagging power generation plan. The public is naturally concerned about the removal of a watchdog body that had prevented the increasing of the electricity tariff since 2014. The members of the PUCSL have tendered their resignations at the request of the Secretary to the Treasury but the body continues exist without the commissioners.

It is no secret that the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is a hotbed of corruption and allegations relating to power projects, power purchase agreements etc. have been flying for a long time. All this must necessarily affect what the people pay for their electricity. There has been resistance to the scuttling of PUCSL not only from members of the opposition but also from ministers of the government with Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila on record saying that the abolition is not yet on the agenda. Water Supply Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara has also slammed these moves pointing out that PUCSL was under the purview of the prime minister and had nothing to do with the president. While Jayasundera has said that certain provisions of the PUCSL Act could be incorporated into the Consumer Affairs Authority law and the CEB Act “in due course,” the glaring question is why he had ordered the dismantling of the organization before necessary changes elsewhere are made.