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| Monday, 9 February 2004 |
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by Bharatha Malawaraarachchi The Health Ministry is contemplating legal action against doctors who have not returned to Sri Lanka after Ministry sponsored post graduate training abroad. Ministry sources said around 60 Government medical officers have not returned home after training in health institutions in England and Australia. "Some doctors who went abroad in 1983 are yet to return home," a senior Health official told the Daily News. The scholarships were for higher training on paid leave. The Government incurred Rs 1.5 million on each of them and so far only four had reimbursed the Government, Ministry sources said. The official said the Ministry has decided to take legal action against those who had failed to return. "They had signed a bond before leaving and they are required to come back," he added. Sources said the Ministry has made arrangements to allow them to make payments in instalments but has received applications from only 12 doctors. The majority of doctors who have not returned are anaesthetists. Others include surgeons, radiologists and psychiatrists. The defaulters are considered to have vacated their posts. Earlier, Health Ministry Secretary requested the High Commissioner in United Kingdom to make representations to the Medical Council in the UK not to register Sri Lankan doctors who have gone there on Government scholarships and stayed back. Former Health Secretary Thilak Ranaviraja sent a letter to former Sri Lanka High Commissioner Mangala Munasinghe asking him to urge the Medical Council in UK not to entertain these Sri Lankan medical graduates overstaying in foreign countries, dishonouring their obligations. Brain drain has become a major problem for many developing countries including Sri Lanka. It has been found that many professionals leaving for overseas training on government scholarships eventually obtain citizenship in the host countries. |
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