Medical services in Sri Lanka came to a standstill and thousands suffered as doctors went on strike in the island nation yesterday against certain proposals in the country’s budget for next year.
The Government Medical Officers Association said more than 15,000 doctors went on a strike in over 900 hospitals,
Xinhua news agency reported.
However, the strike was not reported in maternity and children’s hospitals and the Maharagama Cancer Hospital in
Colombo.
Officials from the health ministry said thousands of patients were left without medical
facilities.
The ministry itself was informed of the strike at the “last moment”, it said.
The strike, which commenced yesterday morning, will end
after 24 hours.
A hospital worker wheels in a Buddhist monk patient at an empty government hospital in Colombo yesterday. State doctors stopped their work to protest government plans to tax private incomes of medical practitioners as they staged a one-day strike.
