Minister of Health and Media, Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, announced in Parliament yesterday (19) that plans are underway to recruit 1,000 postal substitutes into the permanent service.

The Minister noted that a Gazette notification has already been issued to transition external substitutes within the Postal Department to the status of registered substitutes. Addressing concerns regarding current employees who have exceeded the age of 30, the Minister stated that measures would be taken to consider their cases.

These remarks were made in response to an oral question raised by Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Anuradhapura District MP, Rohana Bandara.

Addressing Age Limit Constraints

The Minister explained that while there are standard criteria for recruitment into the public service, a significant number of these substitutes have served the department for 8 to 10 years, despite many now being over the age of 30.

“A challenge regarding the age limit has arisen during this recruitment process. However, following the initial round of recruitments, we will specifically focus on the group exceeding the age limit,” the Minister further clarified