Government dispensers to launch island-wide strike on Oct. 22

By Mangala Pavithrani

Colombo, Oct. 15 (Daily Mirror) - The Society of Government Dispensers has announced that it will launch an island-wide strike on Wednesday (22), protesting the failure to recruit dispensing officers to major government hospitals managed by the central government and opposing what they described as unfair interference in transfer decisions made by the Health Ministry.

Dispensers Secretary M.M.S. Bandara said at a media briefing that although the Health Secretary had agreed to hold discussions on the matter on October 8, the meeting was later postponed indefinitely, causing deep dissatisfaction among dispensing officers.

He accused the Sri Lanka Association of Pharmacists of attempting to block the appointment of dispensing officers to vacant positions of Drug Compounding Officers by providing false information to the Health Ministry. “If this decision is implemented, dispensing officers will lose their opportunities to work not only in major hospitals but also in rural ones. This strike is being launched to protest that injustice,” Bandara said.

He added that both pharmacists and dispensing officers possess similar educational and professional qualifications and that treating the two groups differently was inappropriate.

Highlighting the importance of their service, Bandara noted that dispensing officers play a vital role in drug management, compounding medicines, and ensuring the correct dispensing of prescribed drugs to patients—from the Colombo National Hospital down to rural healthcare centers.

“Our strike will have a greater impact on rural hospitals. To avoid inconvenience to the rural population, we urge the authorities to resolve our grievances through fair discussions rather than making unilateral decisions,” he emphasized.

Bandara further said that several attempts to hold talks with the current Health Minister to address their long-standing issues had failed.

He reminded the government that it has one week left to initiate a dialogue with health officials and reach a resolution before the planned strike begins.