Country before 'greener pastures'- Minister

Today we have very famous doctors and they have no intention to leave the country and earn a life of luxury. Instead they provide services to the people of our country in which they completed their education.

Especially they contributed a lot to save the lives of a large number of people who became victims of bomb blasts. Also they performed surgeries on people who met with different types of accidents such as road accidents and falling from heights etc, said Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva.

The Minister was addressing the annual Scientific Sessions of The College of Surgeons of Sri Lanka and International Conference of SAARC Surgical Care Society 2009 and Pre Congress workshop for comprehensive Rehabilitation Management of Persons with disabilities at the Auditorium of the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, Colombo recently.

"I think you can remember how the LTTE shot innocent civilians who escaped from LTTE controlled areas. We were able to save their lives thanks to our medical teams deployed in the areas.

"Our surgeons proceeded to areas like Trincomalee and Vavuniya from Colombo to provide treatment to the people in such areas and it is our duty to show gratitude to such medical personnel. I know medical officers such as Dr. Narendra Pinto are still visiting welfare villages to find out health problems of the people in welfare villages."

The Minister said 'As Healthcare and Nutrition Minister in a country and in the SAARC region, I face many challenges. The first of these is providing a free health and educational service.

"The cost of drugs and equipment keeps escalating constantly. Discovery of new drugs and manufacture of better equipment is no doubt welcome. It is patients who will benefit and all it is not the eventual goal of everyone involved in the healthcare. The health budget has to cope with escalating costs from other aspects of its expense sheet as well as including demands from trade unions for increased salaries and emoluments, building new healthcare facilities etc.

"This is not easy. New equipment in addition to higher costs, means higher maintenance costs and higher costs for consumables. I am glad to note that most hospitals which offer surgical care facilities have access to CT scan, Endoscop and Laparoscopic work.

"I do hope that your deliberations will also look at this problem of offering low cost care in the region."

"After undergoing free education and training up to post-graduate level, again under enormous costs to the country, it is unfortunate that some of our trainees opt to look for 'greener pastures' abroad or in hospitals near Colombo, leaving many of our hospitals and people in the periphery without adequate surgical services.

"I have suggested that the UN establishes a global fund so that benefitting countries could at least be compensated financially for our losses. I hope that the College of Surgeons will be able to provide me with a practical solution to overcome this problem," the Minister said.