ALLIED HEALTH SCIENCE GRADUATES IN A DILEMMA OVER CONTROVERSIAL RECRUITMENT TEST

The Government Physiotherapy Officers' Association (GPOA) recently opposed the double standards maintained by the Health Ministry when recruiting Allied Health Science graduates into the state healthcare sector.

- By Kamanthi Wickramasinghe

Allied Health Sciences were introduced to state universities in 2005/2006 with degree programmes on physiotherapy, laboratory sciences, pharmaceutical science, radiography and nursing. However, graduates who specialised in Allied Health Sciences were recruited to the health sector after a lapse of eight years. The lack of a proper mechanism to recruit allied health science graduates worsened the crisis. A proper salary structure or recruiting mechanism wasn’t established either. However, following recommendations submitted by the GPOA and related medical trade unions, the Health Ministry submitted its proposals to the Public Service Commission in 2018. Here, it was clearly mentioned that priority should be given to graduates from state universities. But GPOA members claim that so far, health ministry officials have neither accepted, rejected, nor clarified their stance with regard to these proposals.

In another instance, an agreement was reached to recruit allied health science graduates based on the merit order issued to state universities by the University Grants Commission (UGC). This suggestion came about as a result of discussions held between trade unions, graduates and health ministry officials. Thereafter, the UGC had prepared the merit order list for allied health science graduates and submitted it to the Health Ministry. However, the matter had not been resolved, and according to the GPOA, the Health Ministry has reiterated that graduates would have to sit for a general knowledge and aptitude test as part of the recruiting process based on existing provisions. As such, preparations are underway to schedule this examination on April 27, 2025. But GPOA members argue that this is an unscientific method to recruit highly qualified graduates into the state healthcare sector.