Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Dr. Rajitha Senaratne says the bureaucracy in the Ministry of Health is a problem for them.
Health Minister made this statement addressing the Health Trade Unions Joint May Day rally organized by Health Services Trade Unions today at the Jayewardenepura Center in Colombo.
Seven proposals were presented at the rally and the resolutions were passed unanimously.
Speaking further at the conference, the Minister recalled that as a trade union leader in the health sector since 1975 he has been involved in trade union struggles.
Noting that in recent times, all the trade unions could not be gathered in the same place even for the anti-SAITM protests, the Minister said he is happy that all the trade unions of the health service today are holding a May Day meeting.
“They have gathered to win labor rights even though they have different political ideas,” the Minister said.
Minister Senaratne said that when he was appointed Minister of Health, he had given fair responses to the demands made by the unions but bureaucracy was a problem.
“I took the decisions. But because of bureaucracy it was not able to enforce certain decisions,” he said.
“The bureaucracy in the Ministry of Health is an issue for me too. It’s a stagnated bureaucracy. It hampers the progress of the health service. Certain officials are like parasites. The contribution to health care is minimal,” the Minister remarked.
“I negotiate with trade unions and arrive at a decisions. I am responsible to the government for those decisions. Nobody faces a problem when implementing them, because I accept responsibility. But the implementation of the decisions is slow,” he explained.
The Minister said after a decision is taken the trade union leaders must push the officials to implement the decision in order to win their demands.
The Minister noted that some ministers are afraid to make decisions because of bureaucracy in institutions. “But we should defeat bureaucracy.”
He said that a proposal has been made to make promotions in health service on merit since skilled people do not become officials while promotions are made on seniority.
All employees in health services should be provided with proper training and certification, the Minister said requesting the trade unions to submit their plans for the implementation of the proposal.
He said that it has been decided to conduct health service as a closed service but even though the Cabinet decision was taken, the officials are moving slowly since do not like to introduce health service as a closed service.
