Health Minister at Geneva confab:

Right to quality health care guaranteed to every Lankan citizen

Nadira Gunatilleke

The Sri Lankan government as per the vision of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has made clear that it is the responsibility of the state to preserve the free health services and safeguard the right of every citizen for comprehensive and quality health care, Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena said.

Addressing the Ministers’ Meeting of the 66th World Health Assembly and the Commonwealth Health Ministers’ Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, the minister said with Sri Lanka now enjoying peace, the government has considered it a unique and important opportunity to focus more on vulnerable and less privileged groups. “The government has started rebuilding the conflict-affected north and over 75 healthcare institutions have been established with qualified staff to provide services to the newly resettled populations. More attention is now being paid to ensure sufficient investment by the government for the health sector,” he said.

The minister said a five-year Medium Term Development Plan has been prepared based on 24 strategies with clear targets while the government was in the process of finalising a Medium Term Expenditure Framework to ensure sufficient investment in health sector in line with national priorities.

Minister Sirisena said the government has given top priority for communicable disease prevention using primary health care approach. “Immunisation coverage has been improved and the national programme for immunisation has been expanded to all corners of the country with the introduction of new vaccines, on country specific needs and evidence. As under-nutrition among mothers and children below five years remains a challenge, the government has established a National Nutrition Council with the President as the Chair to involve ministries in addressing the issue of malnutrition,” he said.

Sri Lanka’s commitment to achieve Millennium Development Goals is at the highest level. The present trend with regard to maternal and child health indicators demonstrate that Sri Lanka is on track in achieving the MDG targets within the required period, the minister said.

“We wish to inform the assembly that we have developed our Migration Health Policy which includes addressing the health of inbound, outbound and internal migrants. We are now not only a sending country but we also receive labour migrants; we urge other member states to review their stand on access to primary health care, safety and dignity of migrant communities which will be beneficial to all,” he said.

The proposed reduction in the programme budget for 2014 – 2015 for the South East Asia Region is not justifiable considering facts that one fourth of the world’s population and one third of the global disease burden are confined to our region, he said. “I request the World Health Organization Director General to reconsider this decision for reduction of budget allocations to the South East Asia Region at the next Executive Board Meeting,” the minister said.

He said in 2005, the Health Ministry formulated the ‘Mental Health Policy of Sri Lanka’ and established a National Mental Health advisory Council to oversee the implementation of National mental health policy. “Mental health care when delayed amounts to mental health care being denied. It is high time we take timely action, or else the implications will be critical, increases in homelessness, poverty, disability, suicide, substance misuse and violence, especially domestic violence,” the minister said.