The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) has urged the government to urgently address fuel and transport difficulties faced by doctors, warning that the current fuel quota system could disrupt the functioning of the country’s health services.

In a statement issued yesterday, the GMOA said the public hospital system operated continuously throughout the year and required doctors and healthcare personnel to travel frequently across the country to provide medical services.

The association noted that doctors currently used their own vehicles to attend to routine duties, on-call services and emergency calls, and unlike some other public sector officials, they were not provided with official vehicles.

The GMOA pointed out that the fuel quota allocated under the recently introduced QR-based fuel distribution system was insufficient for many doctors who travel long distances to hospitals, particularly specialists and medical administrators serving away from their places of residence.

It warned that if the issue remained unresolved, some doctors could face difficulties even in reaching hospitals to carry out their duties.

The Association therefore called on the government to recognise the practical challenges faced by healthcare workers and to revise the fuel quota allocated to doctors and other health sector staff to ensure the uninterrupted delivery of health services.

The GMOA also appealed to the President to intervene and treat the fuel issue affecting health workers as a national priority in order to safeguard the public’s right to healthcare.

The possibility of introducing work-from-home arrangements was among the measures discussed when President Anura Kumara Dissanayake met ministry secretaries and heads of state institutions yesterday to review steps to ensure the uninterrupted provision of essential services amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

The meeting, held at the Presidential Secretariat, had examined potential challenges in maintaining operations in key sectors including health, education, industry, agriculture and fisheries, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said.

During the discussion, ministry secretaries briefed the President on the fuel requirements of their respective sectors and the possible impact of supply constraints under the prevailing global situation.

President Dissanayake instructed officials to explore the feasibility of maintaining regional fuel reserves, particularly to support critical sectors such as healthcare, while also studying the practicality of adopting work-from-home arrangements where possible in order to ensure the continuity of public services while reducing fuel consumption.

Emphasising that developments in the Middle East remain uncertain, the President stressed the need for authorities to remain vigilant and prepared to respond to any emerging challenges.

He also underscored the importance of further strengthening the QR-based fuel management system, directing officials to promptly identify and rectify any shortcomings in the mechanism.

The President instructed relevant authorities to continuously monitor developments and respond swiftly to changing circumstances.

Noting that isolated decisions by individual sectors would be ineffective, President Dissanayake emphasised the need for a coordinated national approach, urging officials to identify alternative solutions and act with mutual understanding to safeguard essential public services.

The Public Service Commission (PSC) has said transfers for which no specific date of implementation has been indicated should also take effect from the same date.

The Commission has noted that decisions on appeals submitted in relation to the transfers have already been communicated to the relevant officers and published on its official website.

Accordingly, all public officers who have received transfer orders for 2026 are required to report to their new stations on the designated date.The PSC has further stated that any future requests or recommendations seeking revisions to transfers that have already been approved will not be reconsidered.