Health budget increased to Rs 125 billion

Nadira Gunatilleke

The government increased allocations for the health sector with every budget since 2005. The country's health budget was Rs. 35 billion in 2005 while it was Rs. 125 billion in 2013. President Mahinda Rajapaksa is keen to ensure the smooth functioning of the country's free health service, Director General, Health Services, Dr Palitha Mahipala said.

He said state hospitals treat 55 million patients (50 million OPD patients and five million in-house/warded patients) annually.

"Out of this number, 99.99 percent get cured. The Sri Lankan health care system is entirely free, from immunisation to bypass surgery. Even serious and expensive surgeries such as brain surgeries are performed free," Dr Mahipala said.

He said any patient from anywhere in the country can walk in to any state hospital and obtain treatment for any type of illness.

"There are no restrictions. A patient from Jaffna can visit the Colombo National Hospital or any other hospital and obtain treatment.

There are 1,067 state health institutions in the country and for each kilometre, there is one such institution.

The coverage of the free heath service is very high," Dr Mahipala said.