Sufficient health personnel within two years - Minister

Lakmini RODRIGO

COLOMBO: The country will have sufficient MBBS doctors, nurses and para-medics within the next two years and all vacancies for medical consultants will be fulfilled within the next five years, Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said yesterday.

Under the two year programme 15,000 nurses will be added to the cadre within two years and the Ministry had already taken in 7,500 nurses for training and the next batch will be taken in soon, de Silva said.

The Minister was speaking at a ceremony held at the BMICH to mark World Health Day.

Medical professionals who have proven their ability in the field of administration should be given the opportunity to ascend high in that field regardless of their experience, de Silva said.

He pointed out that administration of the health sector was a key issue that should be addressed immediately if the dream of an efficient health service was to come true.

He added that a system should be introduced to the universities where medical students would get the opportunity to gain a fair knowledge in the administrative field as they do in the medical field.

"We have a very efficient health care service and facilities comparable to that of the health facilities in other countries. Our health services have set an example that could be emulated not only by the South Asian Region but also by the whole world," said the Minister. The Mahinda Chinthana ensures the mental and physical wellbeing of the nation.

He added that even with the limited resources available in the country, the health sector had a very high productivity that could be further increased by 'Working Together for Health', the theme of World Health Day, this year.

He added that 95 per cent of the tsunami reconstruction work in the health sector including hospitals and officers' quarters had been completed.

The Minister pointed out that the health sector had achieved the millennium goals for maternal and child healthcare, and that there were sufficient midwives in the country to maintain these levels.

He added that efforts were being made to minimise the harmful effects on the health sector caused by strikes by various health sector workers by training the Army to handle hospital work when such services are required.

The monopoly of the doctors have been slightly reduced with the private sector coming up, and the monopoly of the medical laboratory technicians (MLT) had also been broken by the Government by establishing more laboratories outside hospitals, he added.

World Health Organisation Sri Lanka representative Dr. Agostino Bora said between 1993 and 2000, 22 per cent of doctors who had left the country for higher studies had not returned, leaving the country at a shortage of consultants.