One thousand nurses get appointments

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

COLOMBO: Mahinda Chithanaya will be strengthened with 1000 new appointments given to nurses and other technicians in the health sector. “I must thank President Mahinda Rajapaksa for granting money to train nurses”, Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva said.

He was addressing the gathering after handing over appointment letters to 1000 nurses and technicians in the health sector at a ceremony held at the National Youth Centre, Maharagama on Tuesday. Minister De Silva said that the Greek Government has requested nurses from Sri Lanka.

A delegation from some African countries will be visiting Sri Lanka shortly to study our health system in order to plan the development of their own hospital system.

We import 7200 varieties of drugs per year and maintain a quality health service. This Government has not left any task in the health sector to be done for the next Government”, he said.

The Minister said that as the East was liberated, the north too should be cleared. A free health service should be ensured for the people living in the liberated areas. From the year 2009 all training activities in the health sector will be handed over to the State universities.

The recruitment of new nurses has given an enormous relief the senior nurses who were greatly inconvenienced due to the inability to get transfers. 500 nurses will be sent to foreign hospitals from next year enabling them to serve under secure environment for a high salary.

At present a person only needs the aptitude to get into a profession. In the united Kingdom, art degree holders get the opportunity to become medical doctors and art stream students can pursue medical education.

Two hundred lecturers were recruited to give a quality training for the nurses. Lecturers were brought down from India. No one agreed to serve in the North and East and only 284 science stream applicants were there when applications were called to recruit nurses.

The people living in those areas should be served and the only solution left is recruiting art stream applicants to train as nurses and technicians in the health sector. This step will be taken shortly to provide a better health service to the people living in the North and East, the Minister added.