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Due to several strike actions carried out in support of different demands, the Government Medical Officers’ Association has recently become a widely discussed topic in society. At the same time, it can be seen that false and misleading information is also being widely shared. Below is a fact check we conducted of a false statement that was shared, claiming it to be a remark made by the Secretary of the Government Medical Officers’ Association, Dr. Prabath Sugathadasa.
Social Media Posts :
A post was shared on social media claiming that the Secretary of the Government Medical Officers’ Association, Dr. Prabath Sugathadasa, had stated, “The government says it has no money to give us vehicle permits, but it has crores to bring in metro buses.”
This post continued to be shared on social media in the same way.
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At first glance, the post looks like a video, but it is actually just a social media post, not a real video. So, we checked whether Dr. Prabath Sugathadasa had really made such a statement.
Fact Check :
The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) decided to carry out an island-wide token strike on March 31, 2026, based on several demands, including the illegal transfer of doctors. More details regarding this can be found here.
Since proper solutions were not given, the GMOA started another island-wide strike from 8.00 a.m. on April 4. This was reported by mainstream media.
Later, after being given a chance to have a discussion with the Minister of Health on April 9, the GMOA temporarily stopped the strike at 8.00 a.m. on April 6.
However, the GMOA announced that it would go ahead with a 48-hour token strike starting at 8.00 a.m. on April 9. This decision was taken because the Ministry of Health published the transfer list of post-intern doctors without considering their requests. This was reported in the mainstream media as follows.
It is important to note that the claim about Dr. Prabath Sugathadasa making this statement started spreading during this time.
Since the GMOA is widely discussed, statements made by the association usually get attention in the mainstream media. So, if the Secretary had made such a statement, it should have been reported in the news. However, when we checked, no such reports were found.
Dr. Prabath Sugathadasa often speaks to the media about strike actions and other decisions taken by the GMOA. So, we checked his recent statements to see if he made this claim.
We reviewed a video in which he speaks to the media that has a similar background to the image in the viral post. In that video, he talks about issues in the post-intern doctor vacancy list and the difficult service list, and says that the Ministry of Health has violated the “Establishments Code.” However, he does not make the statement mentioned in the viral post. The video can be found below.
We also checked several other videos where he speaks to the media. In none of those videos does he make a statement like the one being shared. The videos can be found here, here, here, here, here and here.
In addition, a media release issued by the GMOA on March 28, 2026 talks about problems in the health sector caused by issues in post-intern appointments and transfers. But it does not mention anything about vehicle permits.
Dr. Prabath Sugathadasa, The Secretary of the Government Medical Officers’ Association
When we directly asked Dr. Prabath Sugathadasa about this, he said that he did not make such a statement. He also said that he did not express a similar idea either.
The Latest Update Regarding the Token Strike
However, the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) announced that the 48-hour island-wide token strike declared on April 9 had ended at 8.00 a.m. today (11). According to the GMOA Media Spokesperson, Dr. Chamil Wijesinghe, further actions will be decided at an upcoming executive committee meeting. This was reported in the mainstream media in this way.
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Conclusion :
Our fact-check shows that the social media posts claiming that Dr. Prabath Sugathadasa, the Secretary of the Government Medical Officers’ Association, said, “The government says it has no money to give us vehicle permits, but it has crores to bring in metro buses” are false. Dr. Prabath Sugathadasa has confirmed that he did not make such a statement.
Title: A False Statement Being Shared as a Remark Made by the Secretary of the Government Medical Officers’ Association!
Fact Check By: Fact Crescendo Team
Result: False
