SriLanka, Nov. 15 -- The failure to grant salary increments to 1990 Suwa Seriya ambulance service employees since 2018 has emerged as a major challenge to staff retention, with a significant number of trained employees leaving the service to seek better-paying jobs overseas.

The issue was highlighted before the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), where officials warned that the existing salary structure was making it increasingly difficult to retain experienced personnel and recruit new staff.

Nalin Perera, the appointed Director of the Suwa Seriya Foundation told the committee that employees were still receiving the initial salaries introduced when the service was established in 2018.

He explained that a Cabinet paper must be subm...