Certificates for 4,600 private medical institutions

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

The Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry will consider all unregistered private medical institutions as illegal and certificates will be issued today to all 4,600 private medical institutions registered with the Private Health Services Registration Council established under the Private Medical Institutes Act, a Ministry spokesman said.

He said 200 private hospitals and private medical centres, 1,600 doctors who do part time private practice, 800 doctors who do full time private practice, 450 private medical laboratories, six private ambulance services and 700 private dental clinics have already been registered with the Council.

All registered private medical institutions and doctors who receive certificates today should display their certificates clearly to the public.

This will help to easily identify legal and trustworthy private medical institutions and real doctors while enabling the institutions to attract more customers.

This will enhance the quality of the health service, the spokesman said. Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva will present certificates to all registered private medical institutions and doctors today at 5.00 p.m. at National Blood Centre, Colombo 5.