Health Minister urges WHO to curb escalating brain drain

by Bharatha Malawaraarachchi

Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva has urged the World Health Organisation(WHO) to recommend meaningful measures to arrest the mounting drain affecting the health sector in developing countries.

Minister de Silva explained that developing countries such as Sri Lanka still witness many of their exceedingly talented, best qualified doctors and nurses taking wing to the developed world.

"This is a cause for serious concern " he said.

The Minister suggested to the WHO to work out some realistic arrangements for a more controlled flow of health personnel and also to persuade the recipient countries to compensate this loss.

"WHO is in a better position to bring the countries together and negotiate such a covenant or a charter" the Minister told the recently concluded World Health Assembly while stressing the necessity for a practical project under next year's WHO theme of Human Resources Development.

Ministry sources said that there are nearly 60 such Government Medical Officers who have not returned home after training in health institutions in England and Australia. "Some of these doctors have gone abroad as far back as 1983 and they are yet to return home, a senior 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 of them had reimbursed the Government, Ministry sources said. The majority of these doctors who have not returned are anaesthetists while others include surgeons, radiologists and psychiatrists. It is learned that the defaulters are already considered to have vacated their posts.

According to an official, the Ministry has now 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, that arrangements have already been made to allow them to make the payments in instalments but Ministry has received only twelve applications.

Earlier, the Health Ministry Secretary has requested the High Commissioner in United Kingdom to make representations to the UK Medical Council not to register Lankan doctors who have gone there on Government scholarship and stayed back.