Ministry to blacklist errant contractors

Nadira Gunatilleke

Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena has ordered Health Ministry Secretary Dr. Ravindra Ruberu to blacklist all contractors who delay constructions of state hospitals and stop handing over contracts to them. The Minister had taken this decision to safeguard the public from undergoing hardships due to lack of facilities,a Health Ministry spokesman said.

According to the spokesman, the contractor who handles constructions at Kandy Teaching Hospital and Colombo South Teaching Hospital has been blacklisted because he had not completed constructions on time. The Ministry instructed the contractor to complete the constructions of the new theatre complex for Kandy Teaching Hospital by 2009. The theatre complex will cost Rs 175 mn. The contractor had already been paid.

After two years still the construction work has not been completed.

The same contractor delayed constructions of the Colombo South Teaching Hospital. He will be blacklisted and no contracts will be given to him hereafter. Deputy Health Minister Lalith Dissanayake ordered the Ministry Secretary to take legal action against all persons who use lands belong to the hospital.

The Ministry will spend Rs 100 million on medical equipment for the proposed theatre complex.

Another Rs Two million will be spent on furniture. A complete ENT unit will also built at the hospital soon. It was discovered that around 40 acres out of 59 acres belonging to the Kandy Teaching Hospital are now being used by outsiders.

They had taken over the lands by force and constructed buildings.

Even the Kandy Police station is located on a land belonging to the Hospital, he added.