Sri Lanka doctors’ 48-hour strike leaves thousands stranded at hospitals. Emergency services running, but routine care halted. Full story inside.
Colombo, Sri Lanka – Thousands of patients found themselves trapped in an impossible situation yesterday as government doctors launched a 48-hour strike that brought routine healthcare services to a standstill across Sri Lanka. Long queues snaked outside hospital outpatient departments as confused and worried patients wondered if they would receive the medical care they desperately needed.
The Strike That Shocked the Nation
The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) began its token strike at 8:00 a.m. on January 23, 2026, affecting government hospitals throughout the island nation. The action came after what the association described as repeated broken promises by the Health Ministry to address critical issues affecting doctors and the public healthcare system.
At Colombo National Hospital, the country’s largest medical facility, the scene was heartbreaking. Patients who had traveled from distant parts of the island arrived early in the morning, only to discover that routine consultations, follow-up appointments, and prescription refills were unavailable. Many waited for hours in uncertainty, hoping conditions would change, while others reluctantly returned home without seeing a doctor.
“I came all the way from Kandy for my appointment,” said one elderly patient who wished to remain anonymous. “The travel alone took three hours and cost money I can barely afford. Now I don’t know when I’ll be able to get my medications refilled.”
What Sparked the Medical Standoff?
The GMOA’s decision to strike wasn’t made overnight. According to Dr. Chamil Wijesinghe, the association’s spokesperson, doctors had been requesting action on six specific issues for months. These demands include fundamental changes to how government doctors are compensated and recognized for their work.
The doctors are calling for revisions to the Disturbance, Availability and Transport allowance, which helps cover the extra costs doctors face when working irregular hours or in remote locations. They also want solutions to long-standing transport problems outlined in a government circular from 1999 – issues that have remained unresolved for over 25 years.
Additionally, the doctors are demanding that an additional duty allowance be converted into a fixed payment, addressing concerns about a research allowance, and most controversially, establishing a special service category called the Sri Lanka Medical Service. This last point has become the most contentious issue in the dispute.
The GMOA argues these demands aren’t about greed but about recognition and fairness. Government doctors in Sri Lanka often work long hours in difficult conditions, serving populations that cannot afford private healthcare. Without adequate compensation and support, the association warns, the public health system faces a crisis in recruiting and retaining qualified medical professionals.
Government Pushes Back Hard
The government’s response to the strike has been swift and critical. Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Hansaka Wijemuni didn’t mince words when addressing the medical action, calling it “deeply unjustifiable” and stating that strikes in the health sector are “extremely difficult to defend” because they directly impact human lives.
Dr. Wijemuni challenged the GMOA’s claims, stating that only a small fraction of medical officers had actually joined the strike and that most hospital services, particularly ward-level care, were continuing normally. He characterized the demands as “highly unreasonable,” especially given recent events.
“The country is still recovering from a significant natural disaster that occurred just seven to eight weeks ago,” Dr. Wijemuni explained. “A substantial portion of the government’s financial resources is currently being directed toward helping disaster-affected communities. To make large-scale financial demands at this time is inappropriate.”
The Deputy Minister also pointed out an uncomfortable irony: the strike began on the very day that a salary increase for public sector employees, including doctors, took effect. This raise had been announced in the previous national budget, making the timing of the strike particularly puzzling to government officials.
The Hidden Battle: Specialist Service Constitution
While allowances and salaries grab headlines, Dr. Wijemuni revealed that the strike’s true motivation might be something else entirely – opposition to creating a separate service constitution for specialist doctors.
A service constitution is essentially a set of rules governing how a particular group of professionals is hired, promoted, and managed within the government system. Currently, all doctors fall under one constitution, but the government wants to create a separate framework specifically for specialists.
According to Dr. Wijemuni, more than 95 percent of specialist doctors have actually signed requests asking the government to establish this separate constitution. Committees studying the issue have also recommended it. The Deputy Minister assured that a committee would be appointed to handle the technical details, and all trade unions and individuals would have opportunities to provide input.
He emphasized that both specialist and general service constitutions for doctors would be developed, allowing for comprehensive consultation. However, he strongly condemned putting innocent citizens’ lives at risk over a document that hasn’t even been finalized yet.
Dr. Wijemuni also suggested political motivations behind the strike, stating it was part of a “political project.” While he acknowledged these political dimensions were “clearly visible,” he noted the government had chosen not to use state power against the union. Instead, he accused the GMOA of using “its full strength to inconvenience the public and generate pressure on the government,” warning against turning the Health Ministry into a platform for political bargaining.
Impact on Real People
Behind the political rhetoric and professional disputes are real people suffering real consequences. The strike has been particularly devastating for several groups of patients:
Chronic disease patients who need regular consultations and prescription refills found themselves suddenly without access to care. For people managing diabetes, hypertension, heart conditions, and other chronic illnesses, missing medications even for a few days can have serious health consequences.
Patients needing follow-up care after surgeries or treatments were left in limbo, uncertain about their recovery progress and unable to address complications or concerns that might arise.
People seeking routine health screenings or diagnostic tests had their appointments canceled, potentially delaying the detection of serious conditions.
Rural patients faced the biggest burden. Many had traveled long distances at considerable personal expense to reach major hospitals, only to find services suspended. The cost of return travel, lost wages from taking time off work, and the uncertainty of when they could reschedule created a cascade of hardships.
The emotional toll shouldn’t be underestimated either. Healthcare facilities are places people turn to in times of vulnerability. Being turned away or facing indefinite waits adds anxiety to already stressful situations.
Emergency Services: A Silver Lining
In what could have been a complete disaster, the GMOA made an important commitment: emergency services would continue operating normally throughout the strike. Accident and emergency departments, maternity wards, and other critical care services remained fully functional to ensure patient safety.
The union also announced that specialized facilities including maternity hospitals, children’s hospitals, kidney treatment centers, cancer hospitals, and the National Institute of Mental Health in Angoda would not be affected by the strike. This decision demonstrated some recognition of the life-or-death nature of certain medical services.
However, “emergency services only” still meant that the vast majority of patients seeking routine care were left without options. Emergency departments aren’t designed to handle the volume of general medical needs, and trying to use them as substitutes for regular care puts strain on those critical services.
Medical Community Divided
Interestingly, not all doctors supported the GMOA’s action. The Association of Medical Specialists, representing many of the country’s most experienced and highly trained doctors, publicly distanced itself from the strike.
The AMS announced that its members would not participate in the GMOA’s trade union action, creating a visible split within the medical community. This division is significant because specialist doctors are precisely the group that the controversial separate service constitution would affect most directly.
The reasons for the AMS’s decision weren’t entirely clear from available statements, but the split suggests disagreement about either the timing, the tactics, or the underlying demands of the strike. When professional organizations representing the same field take opposite stances on such an important issue, it often indicates complex internal debates about priorities and strategies.
This division also raises questions about who actually speaks for doctors in Sri Lanka. Can the GMOA claim to represent the interests of all government medical officers when another major association actively opposes their actions?
Friday’s Strategic Timing
Deputy Minister Wijemuni made an interesting observation about the strike’s timing. The action began on a Friday, followed immediately by a weekend when many services would already be reduced. He suggested the trade union was aware that maintaining a prolonged strike action would be difficult, especially over a weekend, and questioned whether the action could realistically be sustained beyond 24 hours.
This timing consideration reveals some of the practical realities of labor actions in essential services. Unlike strikes in other industries where workers can walk off the job for extended periods, healthcare professionals face unique moral and professional pressures. The knowledge that patients are suffering creates internal conflicts that make long-term strikes psychologically difficult to maintain.
The Deputy Minister characterized the decision to strike, despite these realities, as disappointing. He expressed regret that what he called a “mature trade union” would make what he termed an “immature decision.”
What Happens Next?
As the 48-hour strike period drew to a close, the GMOA announced that a decision about extending the action beyond the initial timeframe would be made on Monday, January 27, 2026. This announcement kept both patients and government officials in suspense about whether services would return to normal or if the disruption would continue.
The association emphasized that the strike’s continuation depends entirely on whether the government addresses their concerns. This created a clear ultimatum: meet our demands or face ongoing disruption to healthcare services.
Meanwhile, another complication emerged. Radiological technologists – the professionals who operate X-ray machines, CT scanners, and other imaging equipment – announced plans to resume their own separate strike action on January 28. This means that even if doctors return to work, patients might still face difficulties getting crucial diagnostic tests performed.
The layering of different healthcare worker strikes illustrates the broader challenges facing Sri Lanka’s public health system. When multiple groups of professionals feel their concerns aren’t being adequately addressed, the result can be a cascade of service disruptions that compound each other’s effects.
The Bigger Picture: Healthcare System Under Strain
This doctors’ strike isn’t happening in isolation. It’s symptomatic of deeper problems in Sri Lanka’s healthcare system, which has been under tremendous pressure in recent years.
The country has faced economic challenges, including a severe financial crisis that affected government revenues and spending capacity. Natural disasters, as the Deputy Minister mentioned, have further strained resources. In this context, any group of public employees demanding increased funding or benefits faces an uphill battle.
Yet the doctors argue that without addressing their concerns, the quality of public healthcare will deteriorate. If working conditions and compensation don’t keep pace with private sector opportunities, talented medical professionals may choose careers outside the government system or even emigrate to other countries seeking better prospects.
This creates a potential crisis for ordinary Sri Lankans who depend on government hospitals because they cannot afford private care. If public healthcare declines due to understaffing or low morale among remaining doctors, the people who suffer most will be those with the fewest alternative options.
International Context: Not Unique to Sri Lanka
Healthcare worker strikes and disputes between medical professionals and governments aren’t unique to Sri Lanka. Around the world, countries face similar tensions as they try to balance providing accessible healthcare with managing limited government budgets.
In the United Kingdom, junior doctors have conducted multiple strikes in recent years over pay and working conditions. Kenya has experienced physician strikes that lasted weeks. Even in wealthy nations, healthcare professionals increasingly feel undervalued and overworked, leading to labor actions that disrupt patient care.
These international parallels suggest the problems aren’t simply about one government’s incompetence or one union’s unreasonableness. Instead, they reflect fundamental challenges in financing and organizing modern healthcare systems that provide quality care to everyone while fairly compensating the professionals delivering that care.
Finding a Way Forward
Resolving this crisis will require both sides to move beyond their entrenched positions. The government needs to recognize that doctors’ concerns about compensation, working conditions, and professional recognition are legitimate issues that affect healthcare quality. Simply dismissing the strike as political maneuvering or untimely won’t address the underlying problems.
At the same time, the GMOA needs to consider the impact their actions have on vulnerable patients who depend on government healthcare. While strikes can be effective negotiating tools, their use in essential services like healthcare raises serious ethical questions. Are there alternative ways to pressure the government that don’t leave sick people without care?
Several potential approaches might help break the deadlock. Binding arbitration, where an independent party reviews both sides’ positions and makes a decision both must accept, could provide a path forward when direct negotiations fail. International mediation, perhaps by healthcare organizations with expertise in these disputes, might offer fresh perspectives. Or time-limited pilot programs could test some of the proposed changes to see if they work before full implementation.
Whatever approach is chosen, the current situation cannot continue indefinitely. Every day the dispute remains unresolved, patients suffer, and public trust in both the medical profession and the government erodes.
Lessons for the Future
This crisis offers several important lessons for managing healthcare systems and labor relations in essential services. First, regular dialogue between healthcare workers and government officials is essential. Waiting until tensions explode into strikes means problems have been ignored for too long.
Second, compensation and working condition reviews should happen on scheduled timelines, not as responses to crisis. If doctors’ allowances and service constitutions had been reviewed and updated regularly, many current tensions might not exist.
Third, clear communication with the public is vital. Patients caught in the middle of these disputes often don’t understand why they’re happening or what’s being fought over. Both doctors and government officials could do better at explaining their positions in ways ordinary citizens can understand and evaluate.
Fourth, contingency planning for essential services needs improvement. When strikes or other disruptions occur, having clear protocols for maintaining emergency care while minimizing harm to other patients could reduce suffering.
Finally, the medical community itself needs to find better unity. The split between the GMOA and the AMS weakens both organizations’ credibility and makes it harder for the government to know who truly represents doctors’ interests.
The Human Cost
As analysts and officials debate policy details and political motivations, it’s crucial not to lose sight of the human cost. Every canceled appointment represents a person in pain or worry, uncertain about their health. Every delayed prescription is someone potentially suffering preventable complications. Every postponed screening is a potentially life-threatening condition that goes undetected just a bit longer.
Healthcare is fundamentally about people – both the patients who need care and the professionals who provide it. Any solution to this crisis must keep that human dimension at its center, recognizing that both groups deserve respect, dignity, and consideration of their needs.
An Ongoing Story
As this article goes to publication, the situation remains fluid. The GMOA’s decision about extending the strike beyond 48 hours will determine whether this was a brief disruption or the beginning of a prolonged crisis in Sri Lankan healthcare.
What’s clear is that ignoring the underlying issues isn’t an option. Whether through this strike or future actions, the tensions between government doctors and health authorities will continue to surface until genuine solutions are found.
The people of Sri Lanka deserve better than to be caught in the middle of these disputes. They deserve a healthcare system where dedicated professionals are fairly compensated and respected, and where patients can reliably access the care they need. Achieving that vision will require compromise, creativity, and commitment from all parties involved.
For now, thousands of patients can only wait and hope that when they next need medical care, the doors of their local government hospital will be open and ready to serve them.