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CFPs Grumble Over Their Qualifications Being Undermined
CFPs Grumble Over Their Qualifications Being Undermined
undermined
2018-08-02
If anyone says that the Health Ministry has sidelined these Consultant doctors
by not appointing them to main hospitals it is a baseless allegation.
- Dr. Sussie Perera
Meanwhile allegations have also been levelled against the Health Ministry for
sidelining CFPs when formulating the Policy on Healthcare Delivery for
Universal Health Coverage. This is a US $ 200 million World Bank project
which is focused on strengthening the primary health care system in the
country.
“This project is on primary curative care, but none of the Consultant Family
Physicians was asked to for their opinion when formulating the policies. The
Minister is unaware that our representation was not there when forming the
frame work to which the Cabinet approval had been granted. On page 50 of
the draft Essential (Health) Service Package it says that the CFPs have to
train Medical Officers (MO) in primary care units for three months. It is only
after the training period that they will be on par with the CFPs and these
trained MOs should not refer any patient to a CFP for specialised opinion.
However they can refer patients to a secondary or tertiary care specialist. We
became specialists not to train MOs and once these MOs are trained for three
months they are on par with a CFP. If the Ministry of Health can determine
that the primary care medical officers, who received a three-month training,
are equal to CFPs, why did they spent millions of rupees to train us to become
Board Certified Specialists? There again, these administrators want to
undermine our professional qualifications,” sources complained.
Baseless allegations
However Ministry of Health Organization Development Director Dr. Sussie
Perera said that the reason why the CFPs have been deployed at rural
hospitals is to strengthen the primary care units in those hospitals.
“If anyone says that the Health Ministry has sidelined these Consultant
doctors by not appointing them to main hospitals it is a baseless allegation.
We really need the help of these doctors to strengthen these family care units
at small hospitals. Their services are essential to us,” Dr. Perera said.
Posted by Thavam