SLMC crisis: AMS writes to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa

The Association of Medical Specialists (AMS) warned that the questionable action by the Minister of Health to remove the president and four members of the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) can adversely affect the stability, independence and reputation of the regulatory body.

“To the best of our knowledge, there is no provision in the present medical ordinance to remove the President or any member of SLMC by the Minister of Health before the end of their terms. Parliamentarian Tissa Vitarana had also expressed similar sentiments recently in Parliament”, AMS president, Dr. L. A. Ranasinghe says in a letter addressed to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

In his letter dated December 3, 2020, he said the AMS, which wholly comprises government medical and dental specialists, would like to draw attention to the unfortunate crisis situation in the SLMC.

The letter further said: “As you are aware, SLMC is an independent statutory institution which is responsible to look after the patient’s rights and safety and the standards of medical education and ethical medical practice in our country. In order to perform these important functions, SLMC has to be independent, stable and free from undue influences from political and trade union activities”.

The AMS noted that the Minister of Health recently appointed a five-member committee to investigate the conduct of the SLMC in order to address the complaints received against the SLMC. Upon receiving this committee’s recommendations, the Minister removed only the President and four members of SLMC before the end of their term of office. We find this action unfair and is detrimental to the stability of the medical council due to following reasons:

* Although the five-member committee found certain deficiencies and shortcomings of the SLMC, it never found specific wrongdoings of any particular member or group of members. It is in this background we feel it is unfair to remove only the president and four members before the end of their term. To our utter dismay, one such member removed by the Minister was Prof. Narada Warnasuriya, a highly-respected medical professional and a former Dean, Vice Chancellor and past president of the Sri Lanka Medical Association.

* We were reliably informed that when the SLMC delegation met and submitted the comprehensive 300 page document related to the terms of references to the five-member committee, the SLMC delegation clearly stated that all the relevant decisions taken by the SLMC members are binding in nature. The signatories to this written submission included Prof. Vajira Dissanayake, who is the Minister’s present nominee for the post of SLMC president. Hence, it is unfair to single out any member of the SLMC for whatever deficiencies or shortcomings found by the five-member committee, unless there is another specific inquiry for that purpose.

* AMS strongly objects to the recommendation of the five-member committee regarding the long overdue election of four specialists from the specialists registry to SLMC. The five- member committee has proposed for a “separate election later when the specialist registry is completed and sanctioned”. This recommendation is baseless and unacceptable as the specialists registry is now established and more than adequate time was given for specialists to apply for the specialist registration and no further sanction is needed as this election and the other components of the specialist registry was passed as an act of parliament in 2018 (Act no 28 of 2018). We firmly believe that this is a subtle and sinister attempt to postpone the election of medical specialists to SLMC to satisfy a certain trade union who wants to take over the control of SLMC.

The letter added: “We were reliably informed that the change of Presidency at the SLMC can lead to recommencement of all disciplinary inquiries from the beginning affecting both the complainants and the defendants of such proceedings.

“The AMS believes that the above mentioned irregularities happened primarily due to the wrong composition of the five-member committee appointed by the Minister of Health. As we have pointed out to the Minister earlier, this committee included two very active members and a past active member of certain trade union which was the main complainant against the SLMC.

“This improper composition removed the impartiality of this committee, which came up with biased and unfair recommendations. It’s of paramount importance to maintain the independence, stability and the good reputation of SLMC in order to perform its statutory function of regulations of medical practice to ensure patient’s rights and safety. Anything to the contrary can also adversely affect the recognition of Sri Lankan medical degrees by the foreign medical councils causing a major obstacle for overseas training of medical post graduates. In the past the SLMC itself, AMS and other patient rights groups have proposed to change the medical ordinance so that other relevant non medical professionals like retired judges, eminent lawyers and accountants can be appointed as a certain proportion to SLMC as council members.

“This will ensure a more holistic and transparent approach to decision making of SLMC in line with internationally accepted standards”.

Taking these facts into consideration, the AMS has asked the President to reconsider and reverse the decision to remove the President and four members of the SLMC in order to maintain the independence and the stability of the independent body.