The Island 22/07/2011
By Dilanthi Jayamanne
The Joint Council of Professions Supplementary to Medicine urged the Health Ministry to conform to the Treasury circular and pay the allowance for mobile and internet facilities to all specialist health professionals.
JCPSM President Ravi Kumudesh said on Tuesday (20) that the Health Secretary had provided the mobile and internet allowance only to doctors and left out other professional categories in the public health sector.
A circular was issued to all ministries to strengthen public sector services by providing an allowance for mobiles and internet services. The facilities should be used by the public sector employee to enhance his/her services to the public, he said.
However, the Health Secretary has only provided the said allowance to only one category of the government health service. Only doctors have benefited by it. The other professional categories have been left out, he said adding that the Ministry should pay the mobile and internet allowance to all professional categories in government health service or to all specialist services in the health sector. The JCPSM has no objections towards it being paid to medical officers, but the Ministry should conform to the Treasury Circular.
According to the Circular, Kumudesh said, the employee is either provided with a mobile phone, or his bill is paid by the government. Internet bills are also paid by the government. Kumudesh added that the Health Ministry should not discriminate between the professional categories as they were all responsible for providing a service to the public.
