Accept transfers, report for duty:

Health Ministry warns stern action

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

The nurses who do not accept their transfers and do not report for duty at Angoda Mental Hospital will be considered as vacated their posts. The Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry will not change this decision on any grounds, said Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva.

Minister De Silva said that he held discussions with the trade union and came to an agreement in connection with the demands presented by them.

They demanded training, an allowance of Rs.12,000 and to work without exposing to radiation during work. After the discussion the two parties came to an agreement and left promising to abandon the strike. But the following day, they re-commenced the strike putting the lives of innocent cancer patients in danger by not carrying out chemotherapy.

Arrangements were made to bring down specialists from Australia and train the nurses according to their request.

The Ministry also planned to send some of them abroad for further training in order to train the rest of the staff. They expressed their fear to work for many years at the same place (Maharagama Cancer Hospital) because of the possibility of exposing themselves to radiation. But no such cases had been reported from Maharagama Cancer Hospital so far and no scientific findings proving such possibility, the Minister said.

In order to save lives of innocent cancer patients and ensure to uninterrupted chemotherapy the ministry appointed new nurses and ordered them to carry out chemotherapy for a period of two years and provided nine pharmacists in order to ensure that nurses do not get extra risky work. Earlier the nurses had to mix the drugs used for chemotherapy. The ministry transferred the nurses who had carried out chemotherapy for over two years to Angoda Mental Hospital in order to ease their tension and mental suffering, he added.