It has been decided to expedite the recruitment of 1,500 Family Health Service Officers (Midwives) who were limited to an interview only, Finance State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said.
Accordingly, the Management Services Department has been informed that a specific decision on the relevant recruitments will be made in the next few days.
The Minister said this during a discussion held at the Finance Ministry with the officials of the Government Family Health Service Officers’ Association.
According to a gazette notification published in January 2021, the relevant interviews have been conducted. It is to provide 2,500 new appointments to the family health services. But it was revealed that only 1,000 of them are currently undergoing training, and the rest are still waiting for jobs.
Family Health Service Officers’ Association president Devika Kodithuwakku said that due to the suspension of government appointments due to the economic crisis, those who had passed the interviews were in great difficulty.
Responding to the statement by the Health Service Officers’ Association president, the Minister said the government has to manage all the expenses under a situation where the income is insufficient. But the Minister said the recruitment in an extremely important field like health cannot be ignored and instructed the Management Services Department to look into the possibility of making the related recruitments.
Accordingly, the Minister said that there is a possibility of using the World Bank Bank Assistance Programme for this purpose, and if not, an alternative method of obtaining funds for this purpose will be prepared.
The Minister further said that there are vacancies even in institutions such as the Inland Revenue Department, which provides revenue to the government, and they are working on recruitments in the health services by giving even more priority.
-daily mirror
