A total of 176 specialist doctors have filed a petition in the Court of Appeal saying that it is unfair to change the retirement age privilege from 60 to 63. This undertaking by the health secretary is to minimize the current shortage of medical specialists in the country.

“In this context, an attempt is being made to include a new provision to this undertaking suggesting to forcefully transfer specialists holding end posts (non-transferable posts) after a certain age. This will inevitably result in more court cases by specialists holding end posts or many of them opting to retire adding to the shortage and making the undertaking by the secretary health meaningless,” the two medical specialists told Daily Mirror.

“Some of the specialists holding end posts are in certain teaching hospitals due to the highly specialized nature of such specialties and they will not have any places to go if they are asked to vacate their end posts let’s say at sixty years,” they added.

Moreover, the medical specialists articulated “The current state policy is not to transfer officers close to the retirement age and if a specialist holding an end post is asked to leave that post, it clearly violates this state policy,”

Furthermore, this new inclusion needs the change of current service minute/ transfer policy of specialists on end posts as the current transfer policy is not linked to the retirement age to create vacancies. All this will complicate the given undertaking of the health secretary and drag the issue further.

However, medical specialists are of the view that specialists holding end posts should retire at some age but it should not be done in an arbitrary manner undermining the current undertaking.

(Sheain Fernandopulle)